An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/mahnen

by Friedrich Kluge

mahnen, verb, ‘to warn, admonish,’ from Middle High German manen, Old High German manôn, manên, ‘to remind, warn, challenge’; corresponding to Old Saxon manôn, Anglo-Saxon manian, ‘to. warn’; a derivative of the Aryan root mon, men, widely diffused in Old Teutonic, to which are allied the Gothic preterite present munan, ‘to be of opinion,’ Latin memini, reminiscor, men-s (men-te-m), Greek μένος, μιμνήσκω, and the Sanscrit root man, ‘to think’ (see Mann, meinen, and Minne). To Old High German manên (with the variant monên), Latin monêre, ‘to warn,’ with ŏ equivalent to Teutonic a (as in Latin molere, Gothic and Old High German malan), which is likewise formed from the root men, is most closely allied in sound and meaning.