A traditional British name or nickname, typically short for Margaret; also a dialectal British word for a magpie.
Madge as a nickname comes from Margaret, which derives from Greek 'margarites' (pearl). As a dialectal word for magpie, it's from the bird's traditional nickname, related to 'Maggie' or 'Meg,' common names given to animals.
The fact that 'Madge' means both a shortened human name and a magpie shows how English communities gave animals human names casually—a magpie called 'Meg' or 'Madge,' a crow called 'Jack'—blending human and animal identity in spoken language.
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