The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
Appendix I
Indo-European Roots
ENTRY:
medhyo-
DEFINITION:
Middle. Derivatives include middle, medieval, and meridian. 1a.mid1, midst; amid, from Old English midd(e), middle; b.middle, from Old English middel, middle, from West Germanic diminutive form *middila-;c.Midgard, from Old Norse Midhgardhr, Midgard, from Germanic compound *midja-gardaz, “middle zone,” name of the earth conceived as an intermediate zone lying between heaven and hell (*gardaz, enclosure, yard; see gher-1). a–c all from Germanic *midja-.2.mean3, medal, medial, median, mediastinum, mediate, medium, mezzaluna, mezzanine, mezzotint, mizzen, moiety, mullion; intermediate, medieval, mediocre, mediterranean, meridian, milieu, from Latin medius, middle, half. 3. meso-, from Greek mesos, middle. (Pokorny medhi- 706.) See also me-2.
