medalia

Forms

medālia f (genitive medāliae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Late Latin mediālia (“middle”), the neuter plural of the Late Latin adjective used as a noun, with the first /j/ lost by dissimilation.^[1] The adjective is formed from medius (“middle”) with the suffix -ālis.^[1][2] For the English word medal, Etymonline reports this derivation from Klein, Barnhart and Watkins, and adds that the OED instead traces Italian medaglia to Vulgar Latin *metallea (“(coin) of metal”), from metallum.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in a ninth-century gloss,^[1] which explains a siliqua as half of a denarius, “that is, medalia”.^[2][1]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense in the glosses and in Romance is a coin worth half a denarius,^[1] and Du Cange describes it as a small coin of which two made a denarius.^[4] Wiktionary also gives a sense “that which is in the middle”, which survives outside coinage in Sardinian and in regional Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese.^[1] Medieval documents from Hungary use it, in the spelling medalea, for a kind of coin.^[5] A Polish inventory of 1549 applies it to a medal set with diamonds and rubies.^[6]

Its descendants include Italian medaglia, Friulian medaie and Catalan malla.^[1]

Timeline

• 9th century – A gloss equates it with half a denarius.^[1][2]
• 1250–1267 – The statutes of Bologna name it as a small coin.^[4]
• 1549 – A Polish record uses it for a jewelled medal.^[6]
• 1580s – The English word medal appears, from French and Italian.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A coin worth half a denarius.^[1][4][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) That which is in the middle.^[1]
3. (Medieval Latin) A medal.^[6]

Related words

• medius
• mediālis
• English medal

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
5. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
6. ^ a b c Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl