meio

Forms

meio m (plural meios)^[1] As an adjective it agrees with its noun: meio, meia, meios, meias (meia hora).^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote meio, meyo and meo.^[2][3] Vieira (1871) still heads the word meio, ou méo, ou meyo.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin medius (“middle, central”), written Old Galician-Portuguese meio, Old Galician-Portuguese meyo and Old Galician-Portuguese meo in the oldest texts.^[2][3][5][1] Houaiss derives the noun from the Latin neuter noun medium (“middle, centre”) and the adjective from the adjective, and Wiktionary takes the sense “way, means” from the Latin noun.^[2][1] Cunha calls it the popular form beside the learned médio, from the same Latin word.^[3][1]

The same Latin word is Spanish medio (a learned word; the old popular form was Old Spanish meo), Catalan mig, French mi-, Italian mezzo and Romanian miez.^[6][1]

The Latin adjective goes back to *meðios and *médʰyos (“between”).^[1][7] Its cognates include Ancient Greek μέσος (mésos), Sanskrit मध्य (madhya) and Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌹𐍃 (midjis).^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record, from 1270, is the numeral “half”.^[2] The cantigas use the noun for “middle” and “half”: Afonso X mocks soldiers seen eno meio do estio / estar tremendo sen frio “in the middle of summer, shivering without cold”, and Martin Soarez says someone will never be worth o meio do que deu por si “half of what he paid for himself”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

“Half” and “middle” are the medieval senses;^[2][10] Viterbo quotes a will that leaves o meio de hum capom “half a capon”.^[2][10] Houaiss dates the noun's sense “resource, means” to the 15th century.^[2] Folqman's dictionary of 1755 already has both “middle” and “way, device, expedient”.^[11]

In the plural meios came to mean “resources, wealth”.^[12][1] The sense “environment”, the set of conditions in which a living being or a person lives (meio ambiente, meio social), is modern.^[2][1] As an adverb meio means “somewhat, half” (meio cansado).^[1][13] In north-eastern Brazil the noun names a gait of a horse, and in Rio Grande do Sul meio is short for meio-real, an old coin.^[14][13]

Timeline

• 1270 – first record, as the numeral “half”.^[2]
• 13th century – the noun “middle” and “half” in the cantigas.^[9]
• 15th century – first record of the sense “means, resource”.^[2]
• 1755 – Folqman lists meio “middle” and meio “way, means”.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais has the adjective “half” (meio alqueire).^[15]
• 1871 – Vieira heads the word meio, ou méo, ou meyo.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The middle, the point or part equally far from the ends or edges; the centre: no meio da praça.^[2][1]
2. half: dois e meio.^[2][1]
3. A means, way or method of doing something: Não há meio de o convencer.^[2][1]
4. (in the plural) resources, money.^[1][16]
5. The environment in which a living being lives; the social circle of a person.^[2][1]

Adjective

1. Half: meia dúzia, meio quilo.^[2][1]
2. Intermediate, middle.^[17]

Adverb

1. somewhat, rather, half: Ficou meio triste.^[1][13]

Word family

• meio-dia
• meia-noite
• meio-termo
• meio ambiente
• meiinho
• permeio

Related words

• médio
• médium
• mediano
• Latin medius
• Spanish medio

Usage notes

Common phrases: no meio de “in the middle of, among”;^[2][16] por meio de “by means of”;^[2][16] meio-termo “compromise”; and the saying o fim justifica os meios.^[2][16]

In dialect speech meio que + verb means “sort of, as if”.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. meio
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. meio
4. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 4, 186
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. meio
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. medius
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. medius
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. medius
9. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. meio
10. ^ a b Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 127
11. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. meio
12. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. meio
13. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. meio
14. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. meio
15. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 69
16. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6056
17. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. meio
18. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. meio