Derivation of Maid, Maidli, Meydli

Hi there!

I originally wanted to search for the right place of the Alemannic word for girl Maydli or Maidli (east Alemannic) or Meydli (west Alemannic). This term is quit near to the English word maid. However, because of the li ending, which is a reduction form, it stands not for young women, it stand for a girl (mostly a younger one, not a teen). This principle is typical (Swiss) Alemannic and can be observed in many other words like Bergli (smaller mountain), Schiffli (smaller ship), and so on.

While the term Maid (for young women) is fully outdated and replaced by "jungi Frou", the word Maydli, Maidli, Meydli are in heavy use.

So whats the problem of the following derivation for maid, Maydli / Meydli?

• magaþ => magadīn => maiden, meiden => maid

• magaþ => magadīn => mait => Maidli, Maydli, Meydli

Why do you think maid must be from *magadīn? It looks much more like *magaþ.

Yes, I was wrong I thought also "maid" means somehow "girl". However this is true only for the Alemannic words Maydli, Meydli or Meydschi were the meaning is effectively little girl (= magadīn). I have now learned that the sense of a word is in that context here not the relevant point, the genetic relationship is what really matters.

magaþ => maiden, meiden => maid (young women)

magaþ => magad => maget => Maidli, Maydli, Meydli, Meydschi (girl, young girl)

And by the way, the page for German word "Maid" could be regarding this aspect improved. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Maid

The same is true also for the the High German word "Mädchen" (which is effectively derived from magadīn). Also this page could be in this aspect somewhat improved.

magadīn => magedin => Mädchen

Thanks and regards

Unless I'm really missing something, German Mädchen is not a descendant of Proto-West Germanic *magadīn. Rather, German Mädchen is from German Magd + diminutive suffix -chen. German Magd is descended from Proto-West Germanic *magaþ.

Also, English maid is not derived from maiden, but is instead descended from *magaþ, same as German Magd. Meanwhile, English maiden is descended from *magadīn. The etymology currently given in the maid entry appears to be incorrect.

Well, it seems that this overall topic is somewhat more complex than I thought. So according to the answer from Eiríkr Útlendi, the following Mädchen entry in magaþ is also incorrect.

• Old Dutch: magith
  • Middle Dutch: māget, meit
    • Dutch: maagd, meid
• Old High German: magad
  • Middle High German: maget, magt, mait
    • German: Magd, Maid
    • Luxembourgish: Mod
    • Yiddish: מויד (moyd), מאַד (mad)

It would be really great if someone with a linguistic background can check & correct the whole matter.

However, at least the following derivation should be correct:

Alemannic Maydli is from (old?) German Mayd + diminutive suffix -li. So, the Alemannic term Maydli is effectively descended from Proto-West Germanic *magaþ.

Derived, not descended. Descent implies that the same word continued to exist and be propagated through the generations.