Maiden | Etymology, Origin And Meaning Of Maiden By Etymonline

AdvertisementRemove Ads

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Origin and history of maiden

maiden(n.)

Old English mægden, mæden "unmarried woman (usually young); virgin; girl; maidservant," diminutive of mægð, mægeð "virgin, girl; woman, wife," from Proto-Germanic *magadin- "young womanhood, sexually inexperienced female" (source also of Old Saxon magath, Old Frisian maged, Old High German magad "virgin, maid," German Magd "maid, maidservant," German Mädchen "girl, maid," from Mägdchen "little maid").

This is reconstructed (Watkins) to be a fem. variant of PIE root *maghu- "youngster of either sex, unmarried person" (source also of Old English magu "child, son, male descendant," Avestan magava- "unmarried," Old Irish maug "slave").

Also in Middle English "a man lacking or abstaining from sexual experience" (c. 1200). As the name of a guillotine-like instrument of execution by beheading, from 1580s.

Maiden name "surname borne by a woman before her marriage," is attested by 1680s. Maiden aunts (1709) were types of primness.

Ladies should have but one given name, and, when they marry, should retain their maiden name as a middle name. This is a practice among the Society of Friends, and, if generally adopted, we should know at once, on seeing a lady's name, whether she was married or single, and if the former, what the name of her family was. And it is further to be considered, that the adoption of this rule of but a single first name, would put an end to the numerous brood of Emma Mevalindas and Euphenia Helen Lauras—a style of nomenclature not in pure taste. [The Ladies' Repository, January 1857]

maiden(adj.)

c. 1300, "virgin, unmarried," from maiden (n.). The figurative sense of "new, fresh, untried; first" (as in maiden voyage) is by 1550s. In horse-racing (1760) it denotes young horses that have never run before. Maiden name "family name of a woman before her marriage" is from 1680s.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to maiden

girl(n.)

c. 1300, gyrle "child, young person" (of either sex but most frequently of females), of unknown origin. One guess [OED] leans toward an unrecorded Old English *gyrele, from Proto-Germanic *gurwilon-, diminutive of *gurwjoz (apparently also represented by Low German gære "boy, girl," Norwegian dialectal gorre, Swedish dialectal gurre "small child," though the exact relationship, if any, between all these is obscure), from PIE *ghwrgh-, also found in Greek parthenos "virgin." But this involves some objectionable philology. Liberman (2008) writes:

Girl does not go back to any Old English or Old Germanic form. It is part of a large group of Germanic words whose root begins with a g or k and ends in r. The final consonant in girl is a diminutive suffix. The g-r words denote young animals, children, and all kinds of creatures considered immature, worthless, or past their prime.

Another candidate is Old English gierela "garment" (for possible sense evolution in this theory, compare brat). A former folk-etymology derivation from Latin garrulus "chattering, talkative" is now discarded. Like boy, lass, lad it is of more or less obscure origin. "Probably most of them arose as jocular transferred uses of words that had originally different meaning" [OED]. Specific meaning of "female child" is late 14c. Applied to "any young unmarried woman" since mid-15c. Meaning "sweetheart" is from 1640s. Old girl in reference to a woman of any age is recorded from 1826. Girl next door as a type of unflashy attractiveness is recorded by 1953 (the title of a 20th Century Fox film starring June Haver).

Doris [Day] was a big vocalist even before she hit the movies in 1948. There, as the latest movie colony "girl next door," sunny-faced Doris soon became a leading movie attraction as well as the world's top female recording star. "She's the girl next door, all right," said one Hollywood admirer. "Next door to the bank." [Life magazine, Dec. 22, 1958]

Girl Friday "resourceful young woman assistant" is from 1940, a reference to "Robinson Crusoe." Girl Scout is from 1909. Girl-watcher is from 1954. For the usual Old English word, see maiden.

maid(n.)

c. 1200 (late 12c. in place names and surnames), "an unmarried woman (usually young); the Virgin Mary;" shortening of maiden (n.). Like that word, used in Middle English of unmarried men as well as women (as in maiden-man, c. 1200, which was used of both sexes, reflecting also the generic use of man).

From c. 1300 as "a virgin," also as "maidservant, female attendant, lady in waiting." By c. 1500 this had yielded the humbler sense of "female servant or attendant charged with domestic duties." Often with a qualifying word (housemaid, chambermaid, etc.); maid of all work "female servant who performs general housework" is by 1790.

Her Mamma was a famous Fryer of Fishes,

Squeezer of Mops, Washer of Dishes,

From tossing of Pancakes would not Shirk,

In English plain, a Maid of all Work.

But don't mistake me, by Divinity,

When I mention Maid, I don't mean Virginity 

[from "Countess of Fame and her Trumpeter," 1793]

In reference to Joan of Arc, attested from 1540s (French la Pucelle). Maid Marian, the Queen of the May in the morris dances, also one of Robin Hood's companions, is recorded by 1520s, perhaps from French, where Robin et Marian have been stock names for country lovers since 13c. Maid of Honor (1580s) originally was "unmarried lady of noble birth who attends a queen or princess;" meaning "principal bridesmaid" is attested from 1895. Maydelond (translating Latin terra feminarum) was "the land of the Amazons."

• maidenhead
• maidenhood
• maidenly
• *maghu-
• Mac-
• See All Related Words (7)

Advertisement

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

More to explore

firstOld English fyrst "foremost, going before all others; chief, principal," also (though rarely) as an adverb, "at first, originally," superlative of fore; from Proto-Germanic *furista- "foremost" (source also of Old Saxon fuirst "first," Old High German furist, Old Norse fyrstr, DaReginaCognate with Sanskrit rajni "queen," Welsh rhyain "maiden, virgin."...Halifax"In the 16th cent. the name was wrongly interpreted as OE halig-feax, 'holy hair', and a story invented of a maiden killed...Phyllisfem. proper name, in old pastoral poems and plays a generic proper name for a comely rustic maiden (1630s), from Latin Phyllis...SabrinaThe name is from a Welsh tale of a maiden drowned in the river Severn by her stepmother; the legend is found in Geoffrey...Parthenonvirgin goddess" (Athene), also, in a general sense, "the young women's apartments in a house," from parthenos "virgin, maiden...damselearly 13c., damisele, "young, unmarried woman," especially a maiden of gentle birth, also "maid in waiting, handmaiden assisting...overOld English ofer "beyond; above, in place or position higher than; upon; in; across, past; more than; on high," from Proto-Germanic *uberi (source also of Old Saxon obar, Old Frisian over, Old Norse yfir, Old High German ubar, German über, Gothic ufar "over, above"), from PIE roorove"to wander with no fixed destination," 1530s (earliest sense was "to shoot arrows at a mark selected at pleasure or at random," late 15c.); possibly a Midlands dialectal variant of northern English and Scottish rave "to wander, stray," from Middle English raven "to wander, stray,missOld English missan "fail to hit, miss (a mark); fail in what was aimed at; escape (someone's notice)," from Proto-Germanic *missjan "to go wrong" (source also of Old Frisian missa, Middle Dutch, Dutch missen, German missen "to miss, fail"), from *missa- "in a changed manner," hen

Share maiden

‘cite’Page URL:https://www.etymonline.com/word/maidenCopyHTML Link:<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/maiden">Etymology of maiden by etymonline</a>CopyAPA Style:Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of maiden. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved February 25, 2026, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/maidenCopyChicago Style:Harper Douglas, "Etymology of maiden," Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed February 25, 2026, https://www.etymonline.com/word/maiden.CopyMLA Style:Harper, Douglas. "Etymology of maiden." Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/maiden. Accessed 25 February, 2026.CopyIEEE Style:D. Harper. "Etymology of maiden." Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/maiden (accessed February 25, 2026).CopyRemove AdsAdvertisement

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

TrendingDictionary entries near maiden

• Mahn
• mahogany
• Mahomet
• Maia
• maid
• maiden
• maidenhead
• maidenhood
• maidenly
• maidservant
• maieutic

AdvertisementClose

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

CloseABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ