An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/meiden

by Friedrich Kluge

meiden, vb., ‘to avoid, shun, refrain,’ from MidHG. mîden, ‘to dispense with, suffer want, eschew, forsake, refrain from’; OHG. mîdan, ‘to hide oneself from, keep secret, eschew, refrain from’; comp. OSax. mîthan, AS. mîðan, ‘to hide, conceal, refrain from.’ The orig. sense of the cognates seems to be ‘to hide, remain far from,’ but definitely related terms are wanting; Lat. amitto, Lith. pa-metù, ‘to thrown away,’ are not connected. For other words similar in sound see under miß and missen.