See also: médius

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from New Latin from Latin medius (middle). See medium. Doublet of minge and middle.

NounEdit

medius (plural medii)

  1. (anatomy) The middle finger; the third digit, or that which corresponds to it.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for medius in
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

LatinEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Italic *meðjos, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (between). Cognate with Ancient Greek μέσος (mésos), Sanskrit मध्य (mádhya), Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬜𐬌𐬌𐬁𐬥𐬀(maiδiiāna), Old Armenian մէջ (mēǰ), Persian میان(miân) and Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌹𐍃 (midjis).

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

medius (feminine media, neuter medium, comparative magis medius or medior, superlative medioximus); first/second-declension adjective

  1. middle, mid
    media pars corporis; medium corpusthe waist
    media noxmidnight
    media urbsthe middle of the city
    urbs mediathe middle city
    in mediās rēsinto the middle of things
  2. half
  3. moderate
  4. indifferent, undecided

DeclensionEdit

First/second-declension adjective.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative medius media medium mediī mediae media
Genitive mediī mediae mediī mediōrum mediārum mediōrum
Dative mediō mediō mediīs
Accusative medium mediam medium mediōs mediās media
Ablative mediō mediā mediō mediīs
Vocative medie media medium mediī mediae media

Derived termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

ReferencesEdit

  • medius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • medius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • medius in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • medius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • the temperate zone: orbis medius
    • to rush into the midst of the foe: in medios hostes se inicere
    • to break through the enemy's centre: per medios hostes (mediam hostium aciem) perrumpere
    • (ambiguous) the Mediterranean Sea: mare medium or internum
    • (ambiguous) the middle ages: media quae vocatur aetas
    • (ambiguous) manhood: aetas constans, media, firmata, corroborata (not virilis)
    • (ambiguous) to become known, become a topic of common conversation (used of things): foras efferri, palam fieri, percrebrescere, divulgari, in medium proferri, exire, emanare
    • (ambiguous) elevated, moderate, plain style: genus dicendi grave or grande, medium, tenue (cf. Or. 5. 20; 6. 21)
    • (ambiguous) to bring a subject forward into discussion: in medium proferre aliquid
    • (ambiguous) to break off in the middle of the conversation: medium sermonem abrumpere (Verg. Aen. 4. 388)
    • (ambiguous) to be neutral: medium esse
    • (ambiguous) to be neutral: medium se gerere
    • (ambiguous) the centre of the marching column: agmen medium (Liv. 10. 41)
    • (ambiguous) the centre: media acies
  • medius”, in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray