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medium

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈmiː.di.əm/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin medium (“the middle, midst; interval”), in Medieval Latin also “means”,[2][3] the noun use of the neuter of medius (“in the middle”),[2][4] from Proto-Indo-European *medhyo- (“middle”),[2] the root of mid and middle.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The middle term of a syllogism in logic: 1584 in the OED and Barnhart.[6][4] A middle quality, degree or condition is from 1593,[6][7] the 1580s in Etymonline.[2]

Semantic evolution

Most later senses come from two notions.[2] An intervening substance through which a force acts, as air carrying sound, is from 1595,[6][4] which led to the sense of an enveloping substance or environment, 1865.[2][4] An intermediate agency or channel is from 1605,[6] which led to a publication carrying advertising, 1795, the start of the later sense in media.[2] In spiritualism, a person said to convey messages from the dead, it is from 1853.[2][4] In painting, the liquid in which pigments are mixed, it is from 1854.[2][4] The adjective, average or middling, is from the 1660s,[2] 1670 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged,[5] and as a size from 1711.[2][7] Of meat cooked between rare and well done it is from 1931.[2] A happy medium is the golden mean, Horace's aurea mediocritas.[2]

Timeline

  • 1584 – the middle term in logic.[6][4]
  • 1593 – a middle degree.[6]
  • 1595 – an intervening substance.[6][4]
  • 1605 – an agency, channel.[6]
  • 1660s – adjective, middling.[2]
  • 1711 – of size.[2][7]
  • 1795 – a publication.[2]
  • 1853 – a spiritualist medium.[2][4]
  • 1854 – in painting.[2][4]
  • 1865 – an environment.[2][4]
  • 1931 – of meat.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Something in a middle position or condition between extremes.
  2. A substance through which something is transmitted, as air for sound.
  3. A means by which something is conveyed or done; especially a means of mass communication.
  4. The material or technique of an artist, as oil or watercolour.
  5. A surrounding environment; a substance in which bacteria are grown.
  6. A person through whom the dead are said to communicate.

Adjective

  1. Between two degrees or amounts; intermediate: of medium height.

Word family

  • mediumistic
  • mediumship
  • contrast medium
  • mass medium
  • culture medium
  • medium of exchange
  • circulating medium
  • medium shot

Usage notes

The plural is media or mediums, and mediums is usual for the spiritualist sense.[7][3] The American Heritage regards media used as a singular for one means of communication (“a new media”) as widely held to be incorrect, but finds a stronger case for media as a collective term for the news industry, which, like data and agenda, has come to differ in meaning from its singular.[8]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin