n.
'woman, maiden'
(Modern English may)There are two plausible sources for this word. (1) The ON jō-stem n. represented by OIcel mær ‘maid, girl, virgin; daughter (poetic)’ (< PrN *mawiR), and in particular its oblique forms mey(j)- (the later by-form nom. sg. meyja is derived on the oblique stem). The nearest cognate is Go mawi ‘child, girl’ (see further GED); it is usual to explain these forms as < PGmc *magw-, and thus as a development of the *mag- root (as in OE mago 'boy, youth' etc.). (2) OE mǣg ‘female relation, wife, woman, maiden’ (known in verse only), apparently a fem. derivative on the root of OE mǣg ‘male kinsman’ < PGmc *mēgaz, cp. Go mēgs ‘son-in-law’, OIcel mágr ‘male in-law’, OFris mēch, mēg, mēi, OS māgm, OHG māg, māk. The ulterior etymology is obscure and it cannot easily be connected to PGmc *mag- (see further Orel s.v. *mēʒaz). Because OE mǣg is confined to poetry, most authorities prefer to allow for at least some input from the ON word described under (1) (thus Kluge 1901: 941, Bj., OED, TGD, GDS; exceptions are Luick §384 Anm. 5, Kullnick 8, MED). As Bj. notes, Orrm’s form <maʒʒ> at least seems to require derivation from ON meyj-, since the reflex of OE mǣg in his orthography is <meʒhe>.
PGmc Ancestor
*magw- or *mēg-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
mær ‘maid, girl, virgin; daughter (poetic)’
(ONP mær (sb.); meyja (sb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Icel mær, Norw møy, Dan mø, Sw mö
OE Cognate
mǣg ‘female relation, wife, woman, maiden’
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
CC5b
Relatively widespread, from Orrm onwards. EPNE’s citations are from the NW only, and Mayburgh (Wm.) at least could represent ME may.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 1795; Pe 435, 780, 961
On the usage in context in Gaw see PS 1795n.