mediation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mediacioun, also mediacion,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman mediacion^[5][6][7] and directly borrowed from Late Latin mediātiō (“intervention, intercession; halving”).^{[5][8][9][10]} Etymonline calls the Latin source Medieval Latin, with the sense "a division in the middle";^[4] the OED dates it from the 5th century, when Augustine and others used it of the intercession of Christ between God and man, and finds the sense "halving" in a British source of about 1120.^[5] In French the word is recorded from the 13th century meaning a division in two, and since the late 14th century meaning mediation, now médiation.^[5][7] The Latin noun is formed from the past participle stem of mediō (“to halve; to be in the middle; to intercede”),^[5][4][6] from medius (“middle”),^[4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *medhyo- (“middle”).^[4] The Shorter Oxford also allows that the English word was formed on mediator.^[9] It is related to mediate, medium and mid,^[4][6] and has parallels in Italian mediazione (14th century) and Spanish mediación (1683).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Action as a go-between, intervening between parties in a dispute; intercession on behalf of another: before 1387, in John Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[5][4] Chaucer used the word six times, in the senses "mediation" and "means".^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word was used both for negotiating between parties and, in phrases such as by mediacioun of, for the means or agency by which something happens.^[2][5] From the early 15th century it also named the intercession of Christ, and specifically the atonement, a theological sense the OED last records in 1857.^[5] The Latin sense "halving" came into English too: mediation meant division into two equal parts from about 1425 to 1727, the crossing of the celestial meridian in astronomy (to 1633), and in 1597 the division of the octave in music.^[5][9] A later musical sense, the part of a psalm chant between the two reciting notes, dates from 1776.^[5][9] Johnson (1755) gave three senses: intervention by a common friend between two parties, agency, and intercession for another.^[11] The 20th century added the use in psychology for the stages that come between a stimulus and its result (1912),^[5][9] and the sense of settling a dispute without going to court, through negotiation led by a neutral go-between (1916), now often a professional.^[5] Collins records its use in international law, for the friendly intervention of a neutral state, and in industrial relations, for a third party who recommends a settlement that does not bind the two sides.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1340 – Anglo-Norman mediation, intercession in a dispute; halving.^[7]
• before 1387 – action as a mediator between parties; intercession.^[5][4]
• c. 1425 – agency or action as an intermediary; means.^[5]
• c. 1425 – the intercession of Christ (obsolete by 1857).^[5]
• c. 1425 – division into two equal parts (obsolete by 1727).^[5][9]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as interposition, agency and intercession.^[11]
• 1776 – in music, the part of a chant between the two reciting notes.^[5]
• 1912 – in psychology, the stages between stimulus and result.^[5]
• 1916 – settling a dispute without litigation through a neutral intermediary.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Intervention between parties in a conflict to bring about agreement, reconciliation or a compromise: Both unions accepted mediation after the strike entered its third week.^[8][12][5]
2. (law) A way of settling a dispute without going to court, in which a neutral third party helps the two sides negotiate; in an industrial dispute, the third party may recommend a settlement that is not binding.^[5][12]
3. (international law) The friendly intervention of a neutral state to settle a dispute between other states.^[12][8]
4. Intercession on behalf of another person.^[12][5][9]
5. Action as an intermediary or means of transmission; agency, instrumentality.^[8][5][9]
6. (psychology) The coming of intermediate stages or processes between a stimulus and its result.^[5][9]
7. (music) The part of a plainsong or Anglican chant between the two reciting notes.^[5][9]
8. (obsolete, 1425–1727) Division into two equal parts; halving.^[5][9]

Word family

• mediational

Related words

• mediate
• mediator
• mid
• medium
• median
• middle
• intermediate
• immediate

Usage notes

Dictionary.com distinguishes mediation from arbitration: both are ways of bringing opponents to agreement, but a mediator proposes solutions that the parties may accept or refuse, while the result of arbitration, a more formal process, binds them.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins