μεσότης

Forms

μεσότης (mesótēs) f (genitive μεσότητος); third declension.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek μέσος (mésos, “middle”) + -της (-tēs, “abstract noun suffix”), an abstract noun from the adjective for “middle”.^[1][3][4][5]

The adjective goes back to *métsos, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“in the middle”), an old local adjective.^[6][7][8] Cognate with Sanskrit मध्य (mádhya-), Latin medius and Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌹𐍃 (midjis).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first known use is in Plato: in the Timaeus for the means that join two numbers in a proportion, and in the Laws for the central position of the land and the city.^[1][2][9]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle made it a key term of his ethics: virtue is a mean between two vices, one of excess (ὑπερβολή (huperbolḗ)) and one of deficiency (ἔλλειψις (élleipsis)), as courage lies between fear and rashness.^[1][10][11] The New Pauly traces a looser ideal of the mean back to the Archaic period, to Hesiod and the Delphic maxim “nothing too much”.^[11] Aristotle also used the word for sensation, which he described as a kind of mean between opposite qualities, and for the present moment as a mid-point in time.^[1][12]

In mathematics it named the arithmetic, harmonic and geometric means, and Nicomachus used it for the proportional mean.^[1][10] Dionysius of Halicarnassus applied it to style, for a manner of writing between poetry and prose, and the grammarians called the middle voice by this name.^[1][5] The Septuagint has it once, in the Wisdom of Solomon, for the middle of a span of time.^[13]

Modern Greek uses the learned μεσότητα (mesótita) for the quality of lying between two extremes, opposed to ακρότητα (akrótita); its standard example is Aristotle's definition of virtue.^[14]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for a mathematical mean in the Timaeus and for a central position in the Laws.^[1][9][15]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle defines virtue as a mean between excess and deficiency.^[1][11][15]
• 2nd–1st century BC – Dionysius Thrax uses it for the middle voice.^[1][15]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses it for a style between poetry and prose.^[1][15]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Nicomachus uses it for the proportional mean in arithmetic.^[10][15]
• Modern Greek – The learned μεσότητα (mesótita) means the mean between two extremes.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A middle or central position, in space or in time.^[1][2]
2. (mathematics) A mean between two numbers or proportions.^[1][2][10]
3. A mean between two extremes, a state between excess and deficiency; in Aristotle's ethics, virtue.^[1][2][11]
4. A medium between two opposites; a standard of judgment.^[1]
5. (rhetoric) A style between poetry and prose.^[1]
6. (grammar) The middle voice.^[1][5]

Related words

• μέσος (mésos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
5. ^ a b c Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
6. ^ a b 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
7. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
8. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ a b c d Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
11. ^ a b c d Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
12. ^ Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС
13. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge