The term maze has fascinating origins! It is derived from the Middle English word mase, which was a variant spelling of masen, meaning “perplex” or “bewilder”. This originates from Old English amasen, which also had the same meaning and is the root of the word amazing. The etymology of amasen is uncertain, but there are several Norse words that are considered possible cognates, such as Icelandic masa (“chatter”), Norwegian mas (“exhausting labor” or “nagging”), and Swedish masa (“to be slow”), suggesting a Proto-Germanic origin resembling masona meaning “to confound” or “to be weary”. This can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root sme, meaning “to rub”. Interestingly, according to Google NGram Viewer, the usage of the word maze peaked in 2014 for unknown reasons.
