| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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Appendix I
Indo-European Roots |
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| ENTRY: | med- |
| DEFINITION: | To take appropriate measures.
Derivatives include medicine, modest, modern, commodity, and empty.
1a. mete1, from Old English metan, to measure (out), from Germanic *metan; b. meet2, from Old English gem te, “commensurate,” fit (ge-, with; see kom), from Germanic derivative *mt , measure. 2a. medical, medicate, medicine, medico; metheglin, remedy, from Latin med r , to look after, heal, cure; b. meditate, from Latin medit r, to think about, consider, reflect. 3. Suffixed form *med-es-. a. modest; immodest, from Latin modestus, “keeping to the appropriate measure,” moderate; b. moderate; immoderate, from Latin moderr, “to keep within measure,” to moderate, control. Both a and b from Latin *modes-, replacing *medes- by influence of modus (see 5 below). 4. Medusa, from Greek medein, to rule (feminine participle medousa < *med-ont-ya). 5. Suffixed o-grade form *mod-o-. modal, mode, model, modern, modicum, modify, modulate, module, modulus, mold1, mood2, moulage; accomodate, commode, commodious, commodity, from Latin modus, measure, size, limit, manner, harmony, melody. 6. Suffixed o-grade form *mod-yo-. modiolus, mutchkin, from Latin modius, a measure of grain. 7. Possibly lengthened o-grade form *md-. a. mote2, must1, from Old English mtan, to have occasion, to be permitted or obliged; b. empty, from Old English metta, rest, leisure, from Germanic compound *-mt-ja- (prefix *-, meaning uncertain, from Indo-European *, *, to). Both a and b from Germanic *mt-, ability, leisure. (Pokorny 1. med- 705.) |
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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