meridies

Latin

Etymology

From a dissimilation of earlier medīdiēs, derived from medius (“middle”) + diēs (“day”). The sense of 'south' is due to the southward orientation of the sun at noon in the northern hemisphere.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /meˈriː.di.eːs/, [mɛˈriːd̪ieːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /meˈri.di.es/, [meˈriːd̪ies]

Noun

merīdiēs m (genitive merīdiēī); fifth declension

1. midday, noon
2. south

Declension

Fifth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	merīdiēs	merīdiēs
Genitive	merīdiēī	merīdiērum
Dative	merīdiēī	merīdiēbus
Accusative	merīdiem	merīdiēs
Ablative	merīdiē	merīdiēbus
Vocative	merīdiēs	merīdiēs

Synonyms

• (south wind): auster

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “north wind”): boreās, septentriō

Derived terms

Derived terms

• antemerīdiem
• merīdiānus
• merīdiō
• merīdiōnālis
• postmerīdiem

Related terms

• diēs
• merīdiē
• medīdiē

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: amiridz
  • Romanian: meriză
• Italo-Romance:
  • Old Italian: merigge
    • Italian: meriggio
• Borrowings:
  • → English: meridiem; ⇒ a.m., p.m.
  • → Italian: meridie
  • → Portuguese: merídio
  • → Spanish: meridiem, merídiem

References

• “meridies”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “meridies”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• meridies 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)
• meridies in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to lie to the east, west, south, north: spectare in (vergere ad) orientem (solem), occidentem (solem), ad meridiem, in septentriones