Middle English (in an earlier sense). Ultimately from the Germanic base of mathe + a diminutive suffix; compare Middle Low German mēdeke, Old Icelandic maðkr, Danish maddike, Swedish mask. It is uncertain whether the Middle English word is a loan from early Scandinavian, or represents the continuation of a native item unattested in Old English, or alternatively is an independent diminutive formation in Old English or Middle English.