mezzo

Forms

mezzo (feminine mezza, masculine plural mezzi, feminine plural mezze); noun mezzo m (plural mezzi); also an adverb^[1][2] The oldest forms are mezo (1158) and the Veronese meço.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin medius (“middle”), the adjective, and its neuter medium (“the middle, the space between”), used as a noun.^[3][4][2] The word came down through popular speech, while medio is the learned doublet of the same Latin word.^[3][1] The same word is Old French mi, Occitan mieg, Catalan mig, Spanish medio, Portuguese meio and Romanian miez, which means “kernel, pith” in Romanian.^[4][5]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *meðios, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”); it is related to Sanskrit मध्य (mádhya), Ancient Greek μέσος (mésos), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌹𐍃 (midjis) and English mid.^[6][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is mezo in the Tuscan Testimonianze di Travale of 1158, in a sentry's rhyme quoted there: “Guaita, guaita male: non mangiai ma mezo pane” (watch, watch badly: I ate but half a loaf).^[3][7] The form mezzo is in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The noun “half” is in Bono Giamboni before 1292, and Dante uses the word for the middle, the centre, and for “intermediate”.^[3] The sense “means, way of reaching an end” is in Ugo Panziera before 1330;^[3] Galileo, before 1642, used mezzo for the medium in which a physical event takes place.^[3] Before 1829 Melchiorre Gioia used mezzi di comunicazione for vehicles, and by 1950 mezzo alone could mean any means of transport.^[3] Purists judged a mezzo di a calque of French au moyen de beside older per mezzo di, and mezzi “money” a Gallicism too.^[3]

Many compounds were made with it: mezzadro “sharecropper” (1516–1520), mezzanotte, mezzogiorno, mezzaluna and the football term mezzala (1921).^[3] In music mezzo, between forte and piano, was taken into German by 1732, and English used it in compounds such as mezzotype (1894).^[8]

Timeline

• 1158 – Mezo is recorded in the Testimonianze di Travale.^[3]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the noun for “half”.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for the middle.^[3]
• Before 1330 – Ugo Panziera uses it for “means”.^[3]
• Before 1642 – Galileo uses it for a physical medium.^[3]
• 1732 – German mezzo is recorded in music.^[8]
• 1950 – Mezzo alone for a vehicle is noted.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. half, being half of a whole: mezzo litro di latte; also, with the noun left out, le tre e mezza.^[2][9]
2. Incomplete; with a vague or weakening sense, un mezzo disastro.^[2][9]
3. In the middle, halfway between two extremes: a mezza strada.^[2]

Noun

1. A half.^[2]
2. The middle, centre of a space or a period of time: nel bel mezzo della lezione.^[2][9]
3. A means, method or tool for an end: Il fine giustifica i mezzi.^[2][9]
4. (physics) A medium, the substance in which something happens.^[2][9]
5. A vehicle, mezzi pubblici, public transport.^[2][9]
6. (plural) Money, resources; natural gifts: un'atleta con molti mezzi.^[2]

Adverb

1. Half, partly: Ho trovato la porta mezzo aperta.^[2][9]

Word family

• mezzadro
• mezzadria
• mezzanotte
• mezzogiorno
• mezzaluna
• mezzala
• mezzano
• mezzanino
• mezzobusto
• dimezzare
• frammezzo
• ammezzare

Related words

• medio
• Latin medius

Usage notes

A second mezzo, pronounced with a close /e/ and voiceless /tts/, means “overripe” of fruit and, figuratively, “corrupt”; it is Tuscan, Umbrian and Roman, recorded about 1340.^[2][10][1] It continues a rustic Vulgar Latin *mētius, a variant of Latin mītius (“softer”), the comparative of mītis (“mild, ripe”), and DELI numbers it as the first homograph.^[3][4] Phrases with mezzo “half, middle” include andarci di mezzo “to suffer the consequences”, togliere di mezzo “to get rid of”, and per mezzo di “by means of”.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
9. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2448