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Origin and history of moiety

moiety(n.)

"an equal half, a half part or share," mid-15c., moite, from Old French moite, earlier meitiet (12c., Modern French moitié) "half; middle; portion, piece," from Latin medietatem (nominative medietas) "half," originally "middle point," from medius "middle" (from PIE root *medhyo- "middle").

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to moiety

*medhyo-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "middle." Perhaps related to PIE root *me- (2) "to measure."

It might form all or part of: amid; intermediate; mean (adj.2) "occupying a middle or intermediate place;" medal; medial; median; mediate; medieval; mediocre; Mediterranean; medium; meridian; mesic; mesial; meso-; meson; Mesopotamia; Mesozoic; mezzanine; mezzo; mezzotint; mid (prep., adj.); middle; Midgard; midriff; midst; midwife; milieu; minge; mizzen; moiety; mullion.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit madhyah, Avestan madiya- "middle," Greek mesos, Latin medius "in the middle, between; from the middle," Gothic midjis, Old English midd "middle," Old Church Slavonic medzu "between," Armenian mej "middle."

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    Trends of moiety

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

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    folk
    Old English folc "common people, laity; men; people, nation, tribe; multitude; troop, army," from Proto-Germanic *fulka- (source also of Old Saxon folc, Old Frisian folk, Middle Dutch volc, Dutch volk, Old High German folc, German Volk "people"). Perhaps originally "host of warri
    tribe
    mid-13c., "one of the twelve divisions of the ancient Hebrews," from Old French tribu or directly from Latin tribus "one of the three political/ethnic divisions of the original Roman state" (Tites, Ramnes, and Luceres, corresponding, perhaps, to the Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans
    half
    Old English half, halb (Mercian), healf (W. Saxon) "side, part," not necessarily of equal division (original sense preserved in behalf), from Proto-Germanic *halba- "something divided" (source also of Old Saxon halba, Old Norse halfr, Old Frisian, Middle Dutch half, German halb,
    look
    Old English locian "use the eyes for seeing, gaze, look, behold, spy," from West Germanic *lokjan (source also of Old Saxon lokon "see, look, spy," Middle Dutch loeken "to look," Old High German luogen, German dialectal lugen "to look out"), a word of unknown origin. Breton lagud
    adolescent
    mid-15c., "youth, young person, one who is growing up," from French adolescent (15c.) or directly from Latin adolescentem/adulescentem (nominative adolescens/adulescens) "young man or woman, a youth," noun use of an adjective meaning "growing, near maturity, youthful." The adject
    halcyon
    "calm, quiet, peaceful," 1540s, in halcyon dayes (translating Latin alcyonei dies, Greek alkyonides hemerai), 14 days of calm weather at the winter solstice, when a mythical bird (also identified with the kingfisher) was said to breed in a nest floating on calm seas. The name of
    cirrhosis
    "chronic inflammation of connective tissue," originally and especially of the liver, 1827, coined in Modern Latin by French physician René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec with -osis and Greek kirros "red-yellow, yellow-brown, tawny," which is of unknown origin. The form is erroneous,
    Prussia
    region in northeastern Germany, late 14c., Prusse (late 13c. as a surname), from Medieval Latin Borussi, Prusi, Latinized forms of the native name of the Lithuanian people who lived in the bend of the Baltic before being conquered 12c. and exterminated by (mostly) German crusader
    cardinal
    early 12c., "one of the ecclesiastical princes who constitute the sacred college," from Medieval Latin cardinalis, originally as a noun "one of the presbyters of the chief (cardinal) churches of Rome," short for cardinalis ecclesiae Romanae or episcopus cardinalis, from Latin car
    vehement
    early 15c., from Old French vehement, veement "impetuous, ardent" (12c.), from Latin vehementem (nominative vehemens) "impetuous, eager, violent, furious, ardent, carried away," perhaps [Barnhart] from a lost present middle participle of vehere "to carry" (from PIE root *wegh- "t

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