An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Maut
Maut, feminine, ‘toll, duty,’ a Bavarian word, from Middle High German mûte, feminine, Old High German mûta, feminine, ‘toll.’ The current derivation from Middle Latin mûta is not satisfactory, since the latter word is not recorded until late (first half of the 9th century), and that as a German word, nullum teloneum neque quod lingua theodisca Muta vocatur; ann. 837. Gothic môta, feminine, ‘toll,’ is the earliest recorded term. Yet Old High German mûta and Gothic môta (also Old Icelandic and Old Swedish múta, ‘fee, gratuity, bribe’) are not equivalent, since Gothic môta (Anglo-Saxon môt) leads to Old High German *muoȥa, and Old High German mûta to Gothic *mûda. Probably the Old Bavarian word was borrowed about the 8th century, after the High German permutation of consonants, from a dialectic closely allied to the Gothic (Gothic ô tended towards û); to this is also allied Old Slovenian myto, ‘toll.’ An earlier loan-word is also recorded in MidHigh German muoȥe, ‘toll, tax,’ which points to Old High German *muoȥa, and which has been preserved in Bavarian Mueß, ‘miller’s fee.’ Yet the word may have been primitively allied to the Gothic. The term Zoll, which is cognate in meaning, is also of obscure origin.