An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/mangeln

by Friedrich Kluge

mangeln, verb, ‘to want, lack, be lacking,’ from Middle High German mangeln, Old High German mangolôn, ‘to dispense with, miss, be in want of'; Mangel, from Middle High German mangel, masculine, ‘want, defect.’ To this is allied Middle High German manc, ‘want, defect,’ also Old High German mangôn, męngen, ‘to be deficient’; Dutch mangelen, ‘to dispense with.’ A Teutonic root mang, mangw, does not occur elsewhere; it may be primitively allied to Latin mancus, ‘mutilated, powerless, deficient,’ from which early derivatives were formed in English, Anglo-Saxon gemancian, ‘to mutilate’; to this Dutch mank, ‘limping, deficient,’ and English to mangle are also akin.