medius

See also: médius

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmiːdi.əs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

medius (plural medii)

1. (anatomy, dated) The middle finger.
   • 1876, Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion:

     An analysis of the determined cases shows that the index was the digit most frequently amputated, next the medius, next the ring finger, next the thumb, and lastly the little finger

   • 1945, Charlotte Wolff, A Psychology of Gesture:

     There is an interesting abnormality in finger length, the medius being especially long […]

See also

• gluteus medius
• sonus medius

References

• “medius”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *meðios, 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).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛ.di.ʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛː.di.us]

Adjective

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

1. middle, mid, central, between, midway between, in the center

   urbs media ― the middle city

   in mediās rēs ― into the middle of things

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.184–185:

     Nocte volat caelī mediō terraeque per umbram / strīdēns [...].

     [Rumor] flies between heaven and earth at night, shrill-sounding through the darkness.

2. half
3. moderate
4. indifferent, undecided
5. (denoting a part from a bigger whole) the middle of, the midst of

   media nox ― midnight

   media urbs ― the middle of the city

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	medius	media	medium		mediī	mediae	media
genitive	mediī	mediae	mediī		mediōrum	mediārum	mediōrum
dative	mediō	mediae	mediō		mediīs
accusative	medium	mediam	medium		mediōs	mediās	media
ablative	mediō	mediā	mediō		mediīs
vocative	medie	media	medium		mediī	mediae	media

Coordinate terms

(adjectives denoting a part from a bigger whole (partitive)):

• īmus, īnfimus (“lowest part of”) / suprēmus, summus (“highest part of”)
• prīmus (“beginning of”) / ultimus, extrēmus, postrēmus (“last part of”)
• intimus (“inermost part of, deepest part of”)

Derived terms

• mediānus
• mediastīnus
• mediē
• medietās
• mediō
• mediocris
• Mediolatīnitās
• Mediolatīnus
• mediterrāneus
• meditullium
• medium
• medulla
• merīdiēs

Descendants

• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: meiu, ⇒ mesu (crossed with mēnsus)
• Balkano-Romance:
  • Aromanian: njedz, njedzu
  • Romanian: miez
  • →? Albanian: mjez
• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Dalmatian: mesu
  • Italian: mezzo
    • → Sardinian: mezu
  • Neapolitan: miezzo, mienzo
  • Sicilian: mezzu, menzu
  • Venetan: mezo, mexo, miso
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: mieç, mieğ
  • Romansh: mez, miez
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: mig
  • French: mi-
  • Occitan: mièg, miei
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: meyo, micho, meya (“sock”)
  • Asturian: (chiefly used in meudía) meu-, (all dialectal) meyu-, megu-, mieu-, miu-
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: meio
    • Ladino: meyu (Monastir, Sarajevo)
    • Portuguese: meio
  • Old Spanish: meo
• Borrowings:
  • → Aragonese: medio, media
  • → Asturian: mediu, media (“sock, measure”)
  • → Dutch: medio
  • → English: medius, media
    • → Portuguese: mídia
    • → Russian: медиа (media)
  • → Italian: medio, media
    • → Sardinian: media
  • → Portuguese: médio, média
  • → Romanian: mediu, medie
  • → Spanish: medio, media
    • → Sardinian: mediu

Further reading

• “mĕdĭus”, 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
• “mĕdĭus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• "medius", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• 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 and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray