While it is true that such noble estates existed, the name's origins are not quite as the legend says. Clearly, the name developed from the prehistoric term "mer", for “marshy water”, through the Old High German derivative therefrom, "meri", followed by "Meren" (14th century), Muren (1654) and Mem (1683) to today's form, Mehren (compare the English word “mere”). The most important lordly estates were the Zolverhof, the one believed to have been near the Mürmes, and the one that formerly stood on the Hostert, the Demeklischer Hof, which until 1482 belonged to the Count of Manderscheid.