maint

of uncertain origin, possibly of Germanic origin. the difficulty of this term remains in the plausible reconstruction of its Gallo-Roman etypon in the north. Low German has mennichte ('quantity' see menge, and see menigte), Old English menigdu, Danish mængde 'crowd, mass, multitude'. these forms all refer to a reconstructed Germanic etypon in manigiþô. see also the English many 'many'. some have also proposed to see it as a cross between the Latin words magnus 'great' and tantus 'so much', while others postulate a hypothetical Gaulish mantî. to be related to the Occitano-Roman mant/mantun.