Etymologically
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μέσος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /mé.sos/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈme.sos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈme.sos/[1]

Forms

μέσος (mésos) m (feminine μέση, neuter μέσον); first/second declension[1] Homeric and Aeolic μέσσος, Cretan and Boeotian μέττος.[2][3] Comparative μεσαίτερος (mesaíteros), superlative μεσαίτατος (mesaítatos), and the old superlative μέσατος (mésatos), in Mycenaean me-sa-to.[2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *métsos,[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“in the middle”), an old local adjective.[2][1] It matches Sanskrit मध्य (madhya), Latin medius, Old High German mitti and Old Armenian մէջ (mēǰ).[2][1] The dialects have Aeolic and Homeric μέσσος (méssos) and Cretan and Boeotian μέττος (méttos) beside Ionic-Attic μέσος.[2][3] See also μεσηγύ (mesēgú, “between”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Mycenaean tablets of Knossos have the superlative me-sa-to, middle.[4] In Homer it is the middle of a thing (the middle of a sail or a shield) and the midst of a place.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Homer already uses it of time, “midday”, and later writers have “midnight” and “midsummer”.[6] From the Archaic lyric poets on it means intermediate between extremes: of the middle class in Herodotus, Thucydides and Aristotle, of a moderate disposition or form of government, and of what is ordinary or average.[6] Thucydides uses it of an impartial mediator, and the neuter plural for the neutral citizens.[6] The Septuagint and the New Testament use μέσον and ἀνὰ μέσον for “between” and “in the midst”.[7][8] Modern Greek μέσος (mésos) is a learned continuation; its sense average goes back to Hellenistic use.[9]

Timeline

  • Mycenaean – the superlative me-sa-to.[4][2]
  • Homer – the middle of a thing or place, and midday.[5][6]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of people of middle rank.[6][10]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of an impartial mediator.[6][10]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the plural for the middle class.[6][10]
  • Modern Greek – μέσος, as a learned word.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Middle, in the middle of something; at the middle of a period of time (midday, midnight).[6][3]
  2. By the middle, around the waist (of seizing or piercing a person).[6]
  3. Situated between others; central; the middle one of three.[6]
  4. Intermediate: of middle rank or wealth; moderate; ordinary, average.[6]
  5. Neutral, impartial, acting as a mediator.[6]

Word family

  • μέσα (mésa)
  • μέσαβον (mésabon)
  • μέση (mésē)
  • μεσηγύ (mesēgú)
  • μεσημβρία (mesēmbríā)
  • μεσημβρινός (mesēmbrinós)
  • μεσονύκτιος (mesonúktios)
  • μεσοποτάμιος (mesopotámios)
  • μέσως (mésōs)
  • μεσάδιος (mesádios)
  • μεσάζω (mesázō)
  • μεσάτιον (mesátion)
  • μεσημέριος (mesēmérios)
  • μέσης (mésēs)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
  5. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  8. ^ Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
  9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge