Reconstruction:Proto-Italic/medos

This Proto-Italic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

From Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”) suffixed with the neuter noun-forming suffix *-os.

*medos n

1. measure
2. judgement

Two means of accounting for the appearance of Latin modus in the second declension exist.

• The e-grade s-stem noun may have coexisted with an o-grade *-os noun *modos. In Latin, the o-grade noun borne out by modus ousted the s-stem noun, and the vocalism of all surviving derivatives of the s-stem noun was adjusted to match that of modus.
• Schrijver alternatively posits that *medos, an original s-stem would simply turn to *modos via a sound law on the way to Latin, and the second declension would have been acquired secondarily.

• *medestos
• *medes-wos
  • Umbrian: 𐌌𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖𐌔 (mersus, nom. sg. m.), 𐌌𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖𐌅𐌀 (mersuva, abl. sg. f, acc. pl. n.)
• *medes-āō (denominative verb)
  • Latin: moderor

• *meddiks

• Latin: modus (either secondarily transferred to the second declension or conflated with a co-existing second-declension noun)
• Umbrian: 𐌌𐌄𐌛𐌔 (meřs), mers