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Origin and history of Meg

Meg

fem. proper name; before the late 20c. rise in popularity of Megan it typically was a pet form of Margaret, and was "used dial. to indicate a hoyden, coarse woman, etc." [OED]

Entries linking to Meg

Margaret

fem. proper name (c. 1300), from Old French Margaret (French Marguerite), from Late Latin Margarita, female name, literally "pearl," from Greek margaritēs (lithos) "pearl," which is of unknown origin.

OED writes, "probably adopted from some Oriental language" [OED]. Beekes writes, "An oriental loanword, mostly assumed to be from Iranian" and cites Middle Persian marvarit "pearl." He adds, "The older view" derives it from Sanskrit manjari "pearl; flowering bead," "but the late and rare occurrence of both the Skt. and Greek form is no support for a direct identification." He also reports a suggested origin in Iranian *mrga-ahri-ita- "born from the shell of a bird" = "oyster."

Arabic marjan probably is from Greek, via Syraic marganitha. In Germanic languages the word was widely perverted by folk-etymology, for example Old English meregrot, which has been altered as if it meant literally "sea-pebble." The word was used figuratively in Middle English for "that which is precious or excellent, a priceless quality or attribute." Derk margaryte was "a corrupted conscience."

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    Trends of Meg

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    million
    "ten hundred thousand, a thousand thousands," late 14c., milioun, from Old French million (late 13c.), from Italian millione (now milione), literally "a great thousand," augmentative of mille "thousand," from Latin mille, which is of uncertain origin. From the start often used in
    gun
    The identification of women with powerful weapons is common historically (such as Big Bertha, Brown Bess, Mons Meg, etc.)...
    Hobbit
    melch-dicks, larrs, kitty-witches, hobby-lanthorns, Dick-a-Tuesdays, Elf-fires, Gyl-burnt-tales, knockers, elves, rawheads, Meg-with-the-wads...
    one
    "being but a single unit or individual; being a single person, thing, etc. of the class mentioned;" as a pronoun, "a single person or thing, an individual, somebody;" as a noun, "the first or lowest of the cardinal numerals; single in kind, the same; the first whole number, consi
    thousand
    "10 times one hundred; the number which is ten times one hundred; a symbol representing this number;" Old English þusend, from Proto-Germanic *thusundi (source also of Old Frisian thusend, Dutch duizend, Old High German dusunt, German tausend, Old Norse þusund, Gothic þusundi). R
    tattoo
    1680s, "signal calling soldiers or sailors to quarters at night," earlier tap-to (1640s), from Dutch taptoe, from tap "faucet of a cask" (see tap (n.1)) + toe "shut, to" (from Proto-Germanic *to; see to (prep.)). "So called because police formerly visited taverns in the evening t
    derogatory
    c. 1500, "detracting or tending to lessen authority, rights, or standing by taking something away from," from Late Latin derogatorius, from Latin derogatus, past participle of derogare "to take away, detract from, diminish," also "repeal partly, restrict, modify," from de "away"
    newel
    mid-14c., nouel, nowel, "pillar from which steps of a winding stair radiate, stone cut to form a step and a section of the central pillar of a spiral stair," from Old French noel, noiel, novel "knob, newel, kernel, stone" (Modern French noyau), from Vulgar Latin *nodellus "little
    hectic
    late 14c., etik (in fever etik "hectic fever"), from Old French etique "consumptive," from Late Latin hecticus, from Greek hektikos "continuous, habitual," also used of slow, continued diseases or fevers. The Greek adjective is from hexis "a habit (of mind or body)," from ekhein

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