An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/mengen

by Friedrich Kluge

mengen, vb., ‘to mingle, mix, blend,’ from MidHG. męngen, ‘to mix, mingle,’ f., introduced from MidG. and LG.; in OHG., męngan occurs once as a Franc. word (in Isidore); OSax. męngian, Du. mengen, AS. męngan, MidE. mengen, ‘to mix’ (whence E. to mingle); Goth. *maggjan is wanting. Allied to OSax. gimang, AS. gemong, ‘mingling, commixtio, company, troop’; AS. on gemǫng, E. among, so too OSax. an gimange. From these may be deduced a West Teut. root mang, ‘to mix,’ which, however, is unknown to Suab. and Bav. It has been connected with hardly sufficient reason, with the root mik, ‘to mix’ (see mischen), which appears in most of the Aryan languages; it is more probably allied to Lith. mìnkau, mìnkyti, ‘to knead,’ mìnklas, ‘dough’ (OSlov. mękŭkŭ, ‘soft,’ mąka, ‘meal’). In that case mengen would be traced to a pre-Teut. root meng, ‘to knead.’