Where does “Maggie” come from?
Maggie is an English diminutive of Margaret, which derives from Late Latin Margarita, from Greek margarítēs, meaning "pearl."
Maggie (English): Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister
Definitions
- Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister
Ancestry of “Maggie”, step by step
Maggie traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English magpie
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | magpie | One of several kinds of bird in the family... |
| 2 | English | PIE | A type of pastry that consists of an outer crust and a filling. (Savory pies are more popular in the UK and sweet pies are more popular in the US, so "pie" without qualification has different connotations in these dialects.) |
| 3 | Middle English | pie | Alternative form of pye |
| 4 | Old French | pié | foot |
| 5 | Latin | pēs | a foot, in its senses as |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | μέτρον | something used to measure: measure, rule, weight;... |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | -τρον | Forms instrument nouns |
| 8 | Proto-Hellenic | -tron | Forms instrument nouns from verb stems |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -trom | Forms nouns denoting a tool or instrument |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -tḗr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
via English Margaret
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Margaret | A river in southwestern Western Australia, presumed named for a cousin of John Garrett Bussell, founder of Busselton. See Margaret River |
| 2 | Middle English | Margaret | Margaret |
| 3 | Old French | Margaret | — |
| 4 | Latin | margarīta | pearl |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | μαργαρίτης | pearl; a type of Egyptian plant |
| 6 | Proto-Iranian | *mŕ̥ga-ahri-ita- | — |