Etymologically
Log in

mijlociu

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Romanian word mijlociu

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1632 Eustratie's Pravila More words from the 17th century
Ultimate origins
Latin medius locusRomanian -iu
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Romanian mijloc
Romanian mijlociu

Forms

mijlociu m or n (feminine singular mijlocie, plural mijlocii)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian mijloc + -iu, from the noun for “middle” with an adjective suffix.[2][3][1][4][5] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of mijloc.[6]

The base noun is traced by Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the REW to a phrase of Latin medius (“middle”) and locus (“place”).[6] Ciorănescu thinks it more likely that Romanian itself joined miez and loc, comparing French milieu.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1632, in Eustratie's Pravila.[5] An adverbial use, “moderately”, is quoted from the Romanian Herodotus of 1645.[4] Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649 has the feminine mijlocie.[7] MDA2 cites Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686): „Purta haine mijlocii și prostace” “he wore middling, plain clothes”.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first meant “of middle size or quality, middling”, and so “average, mediocre”.[4][5] It also names what lies in the middle of a line or a space, above all the middle finger, deget mijlociu, and the middle one of three or more brothers or sisters.[2][3] Cantemir used it for something halfway between two things.[5]

As a feminine noun mijlocie has also meant an arithmetic mean, and în mijlociu meant “on average”.[4] Old texts had cu mijlocia “by means of” and fără mijlocie “directly”.[4][3] Regionally the feminine names the two middle strings of a fiddle, a small wooden vessel and wool of the second grade.[4][3] In sport it names the middleweight category in boxing, wrestling and weightlifting.[2]

Timeline

  • 1632 – the first record, in Eustratie's Pravila.[5]
  • 1645 – used as an adverb in the Romanian Herodotus.[4]
  • 1649 – mijlocie in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.[7]
  • 1682–1686 – haine mijlocii “middling clothes” in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.[3]
  • 1688 – mijlocie, mijlocii and mijlociul in the Bucharest Bible.[8]
  • 1825 – the Lexicon of Buda glosses it with Latin medius and mediocris.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Placed in the middle of a line, a surface or a space;[2][3] deget mijlociu (also as a noun, mijlociul): the middle finger.[2][3]
  2. (often as a noun) Born second of three brothers or sisters: Fratele mijlociu a plecat la oraș.[2][10]
  3. Between the highest and the lowest in size, quality or value; average, medium, middling: un om de statură mijlocie.[2][3]
  4. (sport) categorie mijlocie: the middleweight class in boxing, wrestling and weightlifting;[2] categorie mijlocie mică: light middleweight.[2]

Word family

  • mijlocie

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 653
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 12
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mijlociu
  5. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. mijlociu
  6. ^ a b c Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. mijloc
  7. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. mijlocie
  8. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Isaiah 3:20
  9. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 396
  10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 77
Cite this entry

“Mijlociu.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/mijlociu. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·