An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/minder

by Friedrich Kluge

minder, compar. of gering and wenig, ‘less, inferior, lower’; from MidHG. minre, minner, OHG. minniro, compar. of luzzil, ‘little, small.’ To this is allied the OHG. and MidHG. adv. min (like baȥ allied to bęȥȥiro). A common Teut. compar. formed like Goth. minniza,. adv., mins, AS. min; the corresponding superl. is Goth. minnists, OHG. minnist, MidHG. minnest, ModHG. mindest, with the d of the compar. which has been evolved in ModHG. between the n and r; the positive is wanting, as in the ease of ehr, besser, seit, &c. Since en in these cognates, as in Mann, has originated in nw for nu, the word is based on the Lat.-Gr. verbal stem minu-, whence also Lat. minor, minimus; comp. Lat. minuere, Gr. μυύω; OSlov. mĭnij, ‘minor,’ Gr. μίνυ-νθα, ‘a little while.’ The oldest form of the root is Aryan mî (mī̆), with the pres. stems mĭnâ- and mĭnu-, ‘to lessen, shorten,’ of which the OInd. would be *mẽymas (equiv. to Gr. μείων); comp. also Gr. μειόω, ‘to diminish.’