meda

Forms

meda f (plural mede)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Venetian meda, the Venetian outcome of Latin mēta (“small column, turning post, boundary”).^[2][3][4] The ⟨d⟩ in place of the Tuscan ⟨t⟩ shows the Venetian route, as Prati pointed out in 1936.^[2] Treccani and Sabatini–Coletti call it more broadly a northern word.^[5][6] It is a doublet of meta, the Tuscan form of the same Latin word.^[1][7]

The Latin word lives on elsewhere with the sense of a heap or stack: the same form is a haystack in the dialects of Belluno and Treviso, and the Romance languages have Friulian mede, Old French moie and Spanish meda and Portuguese meda, a heap of hay or sheaves.^[8] An Old Emilian meda meant a heap in 1338.^[9]

The Latin word first meant a cone or cone-shaped post, such as the turning posts of the circus, and only then a limit.^[10][11] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *mētā- and Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-to- (“measure, measurement”), from the root *meh₁- (“to measure”) of mētior (“to measure”); he rejects the older link with a root meaning “to exchange”, which does not fit the sense “post”.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates the word to 1587, in G. Gradenigo, with the sense of a fixed signal set on shoals or rocks.^[2] The line the GDLI quotes from Gradenigo uses mede for the Pillars of Hercules: per mar passando de Ercule le mede (“crossing the sea past Hercules’ posts”).^[12] DEI puts the nautical word in the 15th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From a post or marker the word became the name of the beacons that warn sailors of rocks and shallows: towers of masonry or metal frames standing out of the sea.^[12][5] In the Venetian lagoon a meda is a pole marking the channel, and on land the word also names a small pillar used as a landmark or alignment mark.^[7][4] Modern technical language has the meda luminosa with a light on top and the meda sonora with a bell or horn.^[5][7]

At Bologna, before the metric system, a meda was a measure of volume of about 7.7 cubic metres.^[7]

Timeline

• 1338 – An Old Emilian meda “heap” is recorded.^[9]
• 1400s – DEI dates the nautical word to the 15th century.^[9]
• 1587 – G. Gradenigo uses meda, the first dated record in DELI.^[2][4][7]
• 1936 – Prati explains the ⟨d⟩ as Venetian.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) A fixed beacon of masonry or metal standing out of the sea to warn of shoals, rocks or other dangers, or to mark a landing or a channel: Il pilota tenne la barca lontana dalla meda.^[7][13][5]
2. A small masonry pillar built on land as a landmark or alignment mark.^[7]
3. In the Venetian lagoon, a pole marking the navigable route.^[7][4]
4. (historical) A Bolognese unit of volume, about 7.7 cubic metres, used before the metric system.^[7]

Related words

• meta

Usage notes

DELI and the GDLI write the stressed vowel open (mèda), while Nocentini, Treccani and Devoto–Oli have it closed (méda).^{[2][12][3][5][13]} Meda is also the feminine of medo “Median, of ancient Media”, which has a separate source in Latin Mēdus.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2401
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier