Etymologically
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mi

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Pronunciation

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

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