An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/mühen

by Friedrich Kluge

mühen, verb, ‘to trouble, vex,’ from Middle High German müen, müejen, Old High German muoen, weak verb, ‘to burden, torment, vex’; Dutch moeijen, ‘to molest, take pains.’ The verbal adjective müde (Gothic *môþeis) points, like the verb, to an Old Teutonic and Aryan root mô, of which there are derivatives in the cognate languages, Greek μῶ-λος, ‘toil, labour, especially in war,’ μῶ-λυς, ‘exhausted by toil, languid, weak,’ Latin mô-les, feminine, ‘exertion, toil, distress,’ &c., môlior, ‘to exert oneself.’ —