medio

Forms

mediō (present infinitive mediāre, perfect active mediāvī, supine mediātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin medius (“middle”).^[2][3][4] Wiktionary describes it as a Late and Vulgar Latin verb in -iō.^[1] The adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *meþio- and Proto-Indo-European *medhi-o- (“middle”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from the Itala and the Latin Irenaeus on, mostly as the participle mediante;^[3] in Apicius it means to halve something.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

Used intransitively it meant to be in the middle,^[2][7] above all in the participle: Palladius uses it for the middle of a month,^[4][6] and the Vulgate's die festo mediante means “when the feast was half over”.^[4] The participle could also mean coming between, and Sidonius and Augustine use the verb of interceding or mediating.^[4][6] The TLL notes that mediante often turned into a preposition, “by means of”, as in French moyennant and Italian mediante.^[3] The deponent medior is also found.^[3]

A Neo-Latin description of Muscovy uses it for an open field lying between two streets.^[8] Wiktionary lists Portuguese mear and French moyer among its inherited descendants.^[1] English mediate comes from its past participle, first in the 1540s sense “divide in two”.^[9]

Timeline

• 4th century AD – Apicius uses it for halving.^[2][4][10]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine writes die mediato, at midday, and uses it of interceding.^[4][6][10]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has die festo mediante, when the feast was half over.^[4][10]
• end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century AD – Palladius uses the participle for the middle of a month.^[4][6][10]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses the participle for something coming between.^[4][10]
• 1540s – English mediate “divide in two” is formed from its past participle.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To halve, divide in the middle.^[2][4][7]
2. (intransitive) To be in the middle; to be half over.^[2][4][6]
3. To come between, intercede, mediate.^[4][6][11]
4. (New Latin) To lie between.^[8]

Word family

• mediātor
• mediātrīx
• sēmediātus

Related words

• English mediate

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson