mi

Pronunciation

• IPA: /miː/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin mi, from the first syllable of Latin mīra (“wonders”), the word sung to this note in a hymn for Saint John the Baptist's day,^[2][3][4] from mīrus (“wonderful”) (see miracle).^[2] The names of the notes of Guido d'Arezzo's hexachord come from the hymn's first syllables: Ut queant laxis resonare fibris, Mira gestorum famuli tuorum…^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The third note of the scale: before 1450 in Barnhart and MWU,^[2][3] before 1529 in the OED, which calls it the name Guido gave to the third note of his hexachords,^[6] and the 1520s in Etymonline.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval hexachord the notes were ut (later do), re, mi, fa, sol and la;^[5][7] when the modern octave scale was set in the early 16th century, si was added.^[5] In the movable-doh system of tonic sol-fa mi is the third degree, the mediant, of any major scale; in the fixed-doh system it is the note E.^[8][9] It is also spelled me.^[9][8]

Timeline

• before 1450 – the third note of the scale.^[2]
• early 16th century – si added to the scale.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (music) The third note of the major scale in solfeggio or tonic sol-fa.
2. (music) In the fixed-doh system, the note E.

Word family

• do-re-mi

Related words

• gamut
• do
• re
• fa
• sol
• la
• ti
• miracle
• solmization

Usage notes

As an abbreviation MI is Michigan or Military Intelligence, and mi. is mile.^[9][10] In 18th-century colloquial use mi was also short for minor.^[6][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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin