Etymologically
Log in

meta

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:45. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈmeː.ta], [ˈmeː.taː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɛː.ta], [ˈmɛː.ta][1]

Forms

mēta f (genitive mētae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *mētā-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-to- (“measure”), from the root *meh₁- (“to measure”).[2][1] De Vaan suggests that the cone or post was used as a mark in measuring land, which would explain the verb mētor “to measure off”.[2] Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny connected it with a root *meitH- “to exchange”, which de Vaan finds unconvincing.[2]

The OLD, Georges and the TLL compare Sanskrit मेथि (méthi, “pillar, post”).[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Cato onwards.[2] Köbler dates it from Lucretius.[6]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense was a cone or pyramid, as Cicero's cone of the earth's shadow, and a conical haystack or heap.[3][4] At the Circus it was the cone-shaped post at each end of the track around which the chariots turned, as in Varro and Horace.[3][7]

From the racecourse it came to mean a turning point in the course of the sun or stars, a boundary or limit, as in Virgil's “I set no bounds to their power”, and the end of a person's life.[3] In medieval music it was the range of a mode and a name for a clef.[8] English, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese borrowed it as meta.[1]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.[2]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the turning points of the sun.[3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a cone.[3][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro describes the procession going round the metae of the Circus.[3][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of limits and of the end of life.[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (geometry) A cone, pyramid.[3][1]
  2. A conical haystack or heap.[4]
  3. The turning post at each end of a racecourse.[3][1]
  4. A turning point or goal (of a heavenly body).[3]
  5. A boundary, limit, meta Herculea: the Strait of Gibraltar.[3][1]
  6. The end (of life).[3]
  7. (Medieval Latin, music) The range of a mode; a clef.[8]

Word family

  • mētālis
  • mētula
  • mētor
  • mētior

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz