Etymograph

English

moiety

Moiety comes from Middle French moytié ‘half’, from Latin medius ‘middle, mid, central, between, midway between,…’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *me ‘near, by, with’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*me1‘near, by, with’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*médʰyos2‘between’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*meðios2‘middle’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmedius3‘middle, mid, central, between, midway between, in the center’
  5. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmedietas4as medietās‘half’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400meitié5‘half’
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600moytié5‘half’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1590moiety5

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin medius
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin medietas
  4. 4 Wiktionary, Old French meitié
  5. 5 Wiktionary, English moiety
  6. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto XII: “They were faire Ladies, till they fondly ſtriu’d /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meWiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos‘near, by, with’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*médʰyosWiktionary, Latin medius‘between’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*meðiosWiktionary, Latin medius‘middle’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmediusWiktionary, Latin medietas‘middle, mid, central, between, midway between, in the center’
  5. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmedietasWiktionary, Old French meitiéas medietās‘half’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400meitiéWiktionary, English moiety‘half’
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600moytiéWiktionary, English moiety‘half’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1590moietyWiktionary, English moiety. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto XII: “They were faire Ladies, till they fondly ſtriu’d /…”

The story

Medius is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (‘middle’), possibly from *me-dʰi- (‘among; with’), from *me (‘in the middle of; among; with’). The word is a doublet of mediety.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos ‘between’

media, mid, midst, maidan, meso, 26 more

through Proto-Italic *meðios ‘middle’

medallion, 17 more

through Latin medius ‘middle, mid, central, between, midway between,…’

mean, medium, medal, median, mediation, demi, mediator, medial, mediate, mezzanine, milieu, medulla, medio, intermezzo, moyen, 18 more

Today it means

noun A half.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “moiety”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos, Latin medius, Latin medietas, Old French meitié. 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-Indo-European *me / moiety

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