mediocritas Latin · revision 32710

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=la mediocris}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [mɛ.diˈɔ.krɪ.taːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [me.diˈɔː.kri.tas]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mediocritās''' ''f'' (genitive mediocritātis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|mediocris|-tās|t1=moderate, middling]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan explains [[m|la|mediocris]] as a compound of [[medius]] “middle” with [[ocris]] “hilltop”, first meaning “halfway up the summit”; [[m|la|ocris]] goes back to [[itc-pro|*okri-|t=hilltop]] and [[ine-pro|*h₂oḱ-r-i-|t=sharp edge]], with [[grc|ὄκρις|tr=ókris|t=point, sharp edge]] as a cognate.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL records it from Varro on.^(TLL) Köbler dates it from Cicero.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is moderateness of size or amount, and of means: Cicero speaks of the moderation of his own movements.^(OLD 2012) It is moderateness of degree, as in Cicero's ''mediocritātēs illī probant''.^(OLD 2012) Above all it is the mean, the avoidance of extremes: Cicero urges keeping the mean between too much and too little, and praises a style that shares in both kinds through a certain middle quality.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' has a face neither cheerful nor sad.^(OLD 2012) It is also limited ability, mediocrity, as in Cicero's mediocrity in speaking, and humble station: Tacitus says the common people face fewer dangers because of the humbleness of their fortune.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Church Latin glosses it mediocrity.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|mediocrity]] (c. 1400) first meant moderation, an intermediate state.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of the mean and of mediocrity in speaking.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus of humble fortune.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1400 – English ''mediocrity'', moderation.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Moderateness of size, amount or means.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Moderateness of degree, [[m|en|moderation]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The [[m|en|mean]], a middle course; an intermediate character.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Limited ability, [[m|en|mediocrity]]; humbleness of station.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mediocris]]

+ * [[mediocriter]]

+ * [[medius]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}