medialis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [mɛ.diˈaː.lɪs], [mɛ.diˈaː.liːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [me.diˈaː.lis], [me.diˈaː.lis]^[1]

Forms

mediālis (neuter mediāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin medius (“middle”) + -ālis.^[1][2][3] De Vaan traces ⟨medius⟩ to Proto-Italic *meþio-, Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”), cognate with Oscan ⟨mefiaí⟩ “in the middle”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Solinus, and Lewis & Short call it late.^[5][3] Köbler dates Solinus to the first half of the 3rd century AD.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Late Latin, it meant middle, and as a noun mediāle the middle, as in Solinus.^[3][5]

Medieval Latin used it for southern, the same as merīdiālis.^[6] English medial (1560s) and German medial are from it.^[7][5]

Timeline

• 1st half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus uses it.^[5]
• 1560s – English medial is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Middle, medial.^[3][7]
2. (noun) The middle.^[3]
3. (Medieval Latin) Southern.^[6]

Related words

• medius
• medium
• merīdiēs
• English medial

Usage notes

Festus, as excerpted by Paul the Deacon, records a mediālis (hostia), a black victim sacrificed at midday, which the OLD derives from ⟨*medidiālis⟩, from medius and diēs, like merīdiēs.^[8][3][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.