An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/meinen

by Friedrich Kluge

meinen, verb, ‘to think, opine, mean,’ from Middle High German meinen, ‘to direct one's thoughts to, have in view, aim at, be affected towards a person, love,’ Old High German meinen, meinan, ‘to mean, think, say, declare’; compare Old Saxon mênian, Dutch meenen, Anglo-Saxon mœ̂nan, English to mean (to this Anglo-Saxon mœ̂nan, English to moan, are supposed to be allied); Gothic *mainjan is wanting. The most closely allied term is Old Slovenian měnja, měniti, ‘to mean.’ The latter, as well as West Teutonic meinen (assuming mainjan from mênjan)'is usually rightly connected with the man, ‘to think’ (compare mahnen, Mann, and Minne). The meaning ‘to love’ appears only in Middle High German, but with the revival of Middle High German literature it has been introduced into Modern High German poetry. —