Etymology

Borrowed from New LatinCategory:English terms borrowed from New Latin#MEDIUSCategory:English terms derived from New Latin#MEDIUS from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#MEDIUS medius (“middle”). See medium. Doublet of minge and middleCategory:English doublets#MEDIUS.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmiːdi.əs/Category:English 3-syllable words#MEDIUSCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#MEDIUS

Noun

medius (plural medii)Category:English lemmas#MEDIUSCategory:English nouns#MEDIUSCategory:English countable nouns#MEDIUSCategory:English nouns with irregular plurals#MEDIUSCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#MEDIUSCategory:Pages with entries#MEDIUSCategory:Pages with 2 entries#MEDIUS

1. (anatomyCategory:en:Anatomy#MEDIUS, datedCategory:English dated terms#MEDIUS) 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

     Category:English terms with quotations#MEDIUS

   • 1945, Charlotte Wolff, A Psychology of Gesture:

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

     Category:English terms with quotations#MEDIUS

See also

References

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

Etymology

From Proto-ItalicCategory:Latin terms inherited from Proto-Italic#MEDIUSCategory:Latin terms derived from Proto-Italic#MEDIUS *meðjos, from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:Latin terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European#MEDIUSCategory:Latin terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#MEDIUS *médʰyos (“between”).

Cognate with Ancient Greek μέσος (mésos), Sanskrit मध्य (mádhya)Category:Sanskrit terms with non-redundant manual transliterations#MEDIUS, Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬜𐬌𐬌𐬁𐬥𐬀 (maⁱδiiāna), Old Armenian մէջ (mēǰ), Persian میان (miân) and Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌹𐍃 (midjis).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛ.di.ʊs]Category:Latin 3-syllable words#MEDIUSCategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#MEDIUS
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛː.di.us]Category:Latin 3-syllable words#MEDIUSCategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#MEDIUS

Adjective

medius (feminine media, neuter medium, comparative magis medius or medior, superlative medioximus)Category:Latin lemmas#MEDIUSCategory:Latin adjectives#MEDIUSCategory:Latin first and second declension adjectives#MEDIUSCategory:Latin entries with incorrect language header#MEDIUSCategory:Pages with entries#MEDIUSCategory:Pages with 2 entries#MEDIUS; first/second-declension adjective

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

   urbs media ― the middle cityCategory:Latin terms with usage examples#MEDIUS

   in mediās rēs ― into the middle of thingsCategory:Latin terms with usage examples#MEDIUS

   • 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.

     Category:Latin terms with quotations#MEDIUS
2. half
3. moderate
4. indifferent, undecided
5. (denoting a part from a bigger whole) the middle of, the midst of

   media nox ― midnightCategory:Latin terms with usage examples#MEDIUS

   media urbs ― the middle of the cityCategory:Latin terms with usage examples#MEDIUS

References

• “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, 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
    

  Category:Latin words in Meissner and Auden's phrasebook
• “medius”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray