maiden [OE] The ancient root of maiden is also that of Scottish and Irish Gaelic mac ‘son’, the element in surnames beginning Mac- or Mc-, and seems to have referred to a young person of either sex. In the Middle Ages maiden was shortened to maid, and the two continued alongside each other, both meaning ‘a young female’ and ‘a virgin of any age’, and also ‘a female servant’, for which maid is now the usual term. This ambiguity led to words and phrases such as *girl or young lady replacing maiden and maid in the ‘young female’ sense. Cricketers trying to bowl a maiden over are hoping to ensure that no runs are scored from the six balls they are bowling. The idea, dating from the 1850s, is that the over is ‘virgin’ or ‘unproductive’.