Etymology

Magdeburg

Mag·de·burg
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Today it means: The capital city of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, on the River Elbe. Full definition →

German Magdeburg ← Middle Low German Māgedeborch
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The story

  1. Middle Low German · derived fromMāgedeborch
  2. German · borrowed fromMagdeburg
  3. English todayMagdeburg

From German Magdeburg, from Middle Low German Māgedeborch, Mēgedeborch. Since the Middle Ages interpreted as “maiden-borough”, sometimes specifically related to the Virgin Mary. However, the first component may originally have been the plant name “mayweed”, compare Middle Low German mēgede(blōme) and Old English mæġþe.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.