An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/meist

by Friedrich Kluge

meist, adj. and adv., ‘most, mostly,’ from MidHG. meist, adj., ‘greatest, most,’ adv., ‘mostly, at best, very specially’ (a superl. of the compar. mehr, MidHG. mêr); comp. OHG. meist, Goth. maists, from the OHG. posit. mihhil, Goth. mikils, ‘great.’ Goth. ma-ists has the old superl. suffix ist like Goth. bat-ists, OHG. beȥȥ-ist; from the stem ma- the Goth. compar. ma-iza is also formed. The forms of comparison seemed to be based on the Goth. adject. stem mêrs, OHG. mâ-ri, ‘projecting.’ Comp. also OSax. mêst, Du. meest, AS. mœ̂st (mâst), E. most.