An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Möwe

by Friedrich Kluge

Möwe, feminine, Modern High German only, from the equivalent Low German mewe, Dutch meeuw, feminine, ‘mew, seagull.’ The word existed in Old High German as méh; Gothic *maihws is wanting; compare Old Icelandic má-r, masculine, ‘seagull.’ A variant *maiwi is indicated by Anglo-Saxon mœ̂w, English mew (for the interchange of hw and w see Niere), as well as by the Dutch form meeuw. A pre-Teutonic *maiko-, *maiki, has not yet been found with a meaning similar to that of the Teutonic cognates.