meridies

Latin

Alternative forms

• medīdiēs

Etymology

From a dissimilation of earlier medīdiēs, derived from medius (“middle”) + diēs (“day”). The sense of 'south' is due to the southward orientation of the sun at noon in the northern hemisphere.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [mɛˈriː.di.eːs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [meˈriː.di.es]

Noun

merīdiēs m (genitive merīdiēī); fifth declension

1. midday, noon
2. south

   Synonym: auster

   Antonyms: boreās, septentriō

   • 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 2.126.8:

     ā septentriōne et occidente sicciōrēs quam ā merīdiē et oriente

     from the North and West they [winds] are drier than from the South or East

Declension

Fifth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	merīdiēs	merīdiēs
genitive	merīdiēī	merīdiērum
dative	merīdiēī	merīdiēbus
accusative	merīdiem	merīdiēs
ablative	merīdiē	merīdiēbus
vocative	merīdiēs	merīdiēs

Coordinate terms

times of day: partēs diēīedit

• aurōra
• māne
• merīdiēs
• vesper
• crepusculum
• nox
• media nox

compass points:  ^[edit]

	septentriō boreās
occidēns occāsus		oriēns eurus
	merīdiēs auster

Derived terms

• antemerīdiem
• merīdiānus
• merīdiō
• merīdiōnālis
• postmerīdiem

Related terms

• diēs
• medīdiē
• merīdiē

Descendants

• Balkano-Romance:
  • Aromanian: amiridz
  • Romanian: meriză
• Italo-Romance:
  • Old Italian: merigge
    • Italian: meriggio
  • Sicilian: mariciu (Salento)
• Borrowings:
  • → English: meridiem, ⇒ a.m., p.m.
  • → Italian: meridie
  • → Portuguese: merídio
  • → Spanish: meridiem, merídiem

References

• “meridies”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “meridies”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "meridies", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “meridies”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to lie to the east, west, south, north: spectare in (vergere ad) orientem (solem), occidentem (solem), ad meridiem, in septentriones