medio

Forms

medio (feminine media, masculine plural medi, feminine plural medie)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin medius (“middle, central”),^[2][3][4][1] beside the popular mezzo, which continues the same Latin word.^[2][3][5][6]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *meðios and Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”).^[1][7] It is related to Oscan mefiaí (“in the middle”), Ancient Greek μέσος (mésos), Sanskrit मध्य (mádhya), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌹𐍃 (midjis) and the English word mid.^[7][8][1] Latin formed from it mediānus, mediāre (“to be in the middle”) and mediocris, the sources of mediano, mediare and mediocre.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Marsilio Ficino (before 1499), for what is in the middle.^[2][4] Leonardo da Vinci writes of the acqua media, the middle water between the inflowing and the returning current.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The adjective soon took a technical role.^[10][2] Galileo writes of un parer medio, an opinion halfway between those of the astronomers.^[10] Guglielmini (1697) uses it for the value found by averaging, and Manfredi (before 1739) for the middle terms of a proportion.^[2] As a noun it named the middle finger by 1542 (Silvestro Ganassi), following Latin digitus medius.^[2][11]

Grammar and rhetoric gave it the middle voice of the verb, the middle stops, the middle style and the stages of languages (medio tedesco, medio persiano), and italiano medio names both the standard language without regional or elevated forms and the ordinary Italian.^[4][5][12] Medio Oriente is a calque of English Middle East.^[13] German commercial language borrowed medio for the middle of the month, and Medio for the 15th day (1808–1809).^[14]

The family includes media “average” (17th century), mediano (14th century) and medioevo.^[3][2] DELI notes that the term for the Middle Ages was coined in humanist Latin in the 15th century, while medievale and medievalista were shaped by English.^[3][2]

Timeline

• Before 1499 – Marsilio Ficino uses medio “in the middle”.^[2][4]
• 1542 – Silvestro Ganassi uses the noun for the middle finger.^[2]
• 17th century – Media “average” comes into use.^[3]
• 1697 – Guglielmini uses medio for an averaged value.^[2]
• Before 1739 – Manfredi uses it for the middle terms of a proportion.^[2]
• 1808–1809 – German Medio “the 15th of the month” is recorded.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. middle, central: placed in the middle, at equal distance from the edges: Il ponte poggia su un pilastro medio.^[4][13][6]
2. Of intermediate size or capacity, medium: Prendo una pizza media.^[4][13]
3. average, ordinary: neither more nor less than the norm: un lettore di cultura media.^[4][5]
4. Of a person, ordinary, without notable merits or faults: l'italiano medio.^[4][12]
5. By extension, mediocre, modest: un pittore medio.^[4][12]
6. Obtained as an arithmetic mean: la velocità media del viaggio.^[4][5]
7. Intermediate in pitch or tone.^[4]
8. (grammar) Of the middle voice: expressing an action that takes place within the subject's own sphere.^[4][5]
9. (linguistics) Of a language, belonging to its central area or to a stage between the old and the modern language: medio alto tedesco.^[4]
10. (linguistics) Of usage, avoiding both vulgar or local forms and elevated or archaic ones: italiano medio.^[4]
11. (phonetics) Of a voiced stop consonant.^[4][5]
12. (rhetoric) Of style, between the humble and the sublime.^[4][12]

Noun

1. The middle finger, the third finger of the hand, between the indice and the anulare; also dito medio.^[4][15][1]
2. (mathematics) Each of the two middle terms of a proportion.^[2][4]
3. (boxing) A middleweight, short for peso medio.^[4][16]

Word family

• media
• mediano
• mediana
• mediale
• medioevo
• medievale
• mediomassimo
• medioleggero
• mediare
• mediatore
• mediazione
• mediante
• immediato

Related words

• mezzo
• mediocre
• Latin medius

Usage notes

GRADIT lists a separate medio, a Venezuelan coin worth a quarter of a bolívar, from Spanish medio “half” (1957).^[4] The GDLI also records obsolete medio for a bellflower, Campanula medium, from Latin and Greek, and for a spiritualist medium, adapted from French médium.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2403
12. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana