Etymograph

English

middle

Middle comes from Middle English myddel ‘the middle or centre of something’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *midjō.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*midjō1‘middle’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*midlą1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150middel1‘middle’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500myddel1‘the middle or centre of something’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1748middle1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English middle
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1748, Samuel Richardson, Letter XXVII: “And now, to middle the matter between both, it…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*midjōWiktionary, English middle‘middle’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*midląWiktionary, English middlereconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150middelWiktionary, English middle‘middle’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500myddelWiktionary, English middle‘the middle or centre of something’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1748middleWiktionary, English middle. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1748, Samuel Richardson, Letter XXVII: “And now, to middle the matter between both, it…”

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Today it means

noun A centre, midpoint.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “middle”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *midjō / middle