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Origin and history of mid

mid(adj.)

"middle; being the middle part or midst; being between, intermediate," Old English mid, midd from Proto-Germanic *medja- (source also of Old Norse miðr, Old Saxon middi, Old Frisian midde, Middle Dutch mydde, Old High German mitti, German mitte, Gothic midjis "mid, middle"), from PIE root *medhyo- "middle."

By late Middle English probably felt as a prefix only, and now surviving in English only as a prefix (mid-air, midstream, etc.). Prefixed to months, seasons, etc. from late Old English. As a preposition, "in the middle of, amid" (c. 1400) it is from in midde or a shortened form of amid (compare midshipman) and sometimes is written 'mid.

mid(prep.)

"with," a preposition formerly in common use but now entirely superseded by with (except in the compound midwife) from Old English mid "with, in conjunction with, in company with, together with, among, at the same time as," and in part from cognate Old Norse mið, from Proto-Germanic *medthi- (source also of Old Saxon mid, Old Frisian mith "together with, with the help of," Dutch met, Old High German and German mit, Danish med, Gothic miþ "with"), from PIE *meti-, suffixed form of root *me- "in the middle" (compare meta-).

Entries linking to mid

amid(adv., prep.)

Middle English amidde, from Old English on middan "in the middle," from dative singular of midde "mid, middle" (from PIE root *medhyo- "middle"); also see a- (1). The phrase evidently was felt as "in (the) middle" and thus followed by a genitive case, and if this had endured we would follow it today with of. (See amidst for further evolution along this line).

The same applies to equivalents in Latin (in medio) and Greek (en meso), both originally adjective phrases which evolved to take the genitive case. But in later Old English on middan also was treated as a preposition and followed by dative. Used in compounds from early 13c.

midshipman(n.)

naval officer, c. 1600, originally so called because he was stationed amidships when on duty (see amid). Midships as short for amidships is by 1620s. Midship as "the middle of a ship or boat" is from 1550s.

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Trends of mid

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

with
Old English wið "against, opposite, from, toward, by, near," a shortened form related to wiðer, from Proto-Germanic *withro- "against" (source also of Old Saxon withar "against," Old Norse viðr "against, with, toward, at," Middle Dutch, Dutch weder, Dutch weer "again," Gothic wiþ
midsummer
"the middle of summer, the period of the summer solstice," Old English midsumor, from mid (adj.) + sumor "summer" (see summer (n.1)). Midsummer Day, an English quarter-day, was June 24 (Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist). Astronomically, midsummer falls on June 21, bu
overweening
mid-15c....(mid-14c. as overweenende, with the earlier ending), present-participle adjective from verb overwenen "be conceited or arrogant..., think too highly or confidently (especially of oneself); be presumptuous, be over-confident" (mid-14c.), from over- + ween..."presumption, arrogance" (mid-13c.); overwēnere "one who is presumptuous or arrogant."...
prophesy
"speak by divine inspiration, foretell future events," mid-14c., prophecein, prophesein, from Old French profeciier, prophecier...Other verb forms in Middle English were prophetise (mid-14c., from Old French profetisier and Latin prophetizare), prophet...(mid-15c.)....
maul
mid-13c., meallen "to strike, beat, or bruise with a heavy weapon," from Middle English mealle (mid-13c.)...To maul through "pierce with a pointed weapon" is attested by mid-14c.; and compare the meaning "split (rails) with wedges...
whoop
mid-14c., houpen, partly imitative, partly from Old French huper, houper "to cry out, shout," also imitative....It is attested as an interjection from at least mid-15c. Spelling with wh- is from mid-15c....
jollity
A word with more senses in Middle and early Modern English than recently: "sexual pleasure or indulgence, lust" (mid-14c....); "insolent presumptuousness, impudence" (mid-14c.); "vigor, strength" (mid-14c.); "love; a love affair" (c. 1300, hence...
moonlight
"hold a second job, especially at night," 1957 (implied in the verbal noun moonlighting), from moonlighter "one who takes a second job after hours" (1954), from the notion of working by the light of the moon; see moonlight (n.). Earlier the verb had been used to mean "commit crim
disease
early 14c., "discomfort, inconvenience, distress, trouble," from Old French desaise "lack, want; discomfort, distress; trouble, misfortune; disease, sickness," from des- "without, away" (see dis-) + aise "ease" (see ease (n.)). Restricted pathological sense of "sickness, illness"
Hollywood
region near Los Angeles, named for the ranch that once stood there, which was named by Deida Wilcox, wife of Horace H. Wilcox, Kansas City real estate man, when they moved there in 1886. They began selling off building lots in 1891 and the village was incorporated in 1903. Once a

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Dictionary entries near mid
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