Etymology Explorer › French

Where does “Méditerranée” come from?

Méditerranée (French) comes from French Mer Méditerranée, from French méditerranée, from French méditerrané, from English Mediterrane, from Latin mediterraneus, from Latin medius, from Latin locus, from Old Latin stlocus — to put, to place; to locate.

Ancestry of “Méditerranée”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1FrenchMer Méditerranée—
2Frenchméditerranéefeminine singular of méditerrané
3FrenchméditerranéMediterranean
4EnglishMediterraneMediterranean; Inland, interior
5Latinmediterraneusinland
6Latinmediusmiddle; half; moderate
7Latinlocusplace, spot; a passage of literature; "in the...
8Old Latinstlocus—
9Proto-Italicstlokos—
10Proto-Indo-Europeanstel-to put, to place; to locate
Every word from Proto-Indo-European stel- →