Median, a.2 and n.2
(ˈmiːdɪən)
[f. Media + -an, or Mede n. + -ian.]
A. adj. a. Of or belonging to the ancient kingdom of Media, or the Medes.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xii. iii. 359 The Citron tree, called..by some, the Median Apple-tree. 1685 Bp. Ken in W. Hawkins Life, etc. (1713) 88 Either the Babylonian, or the Median, or the Persian Idolatries. 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 54/2 Pharaortes..greatly extended the Median empire. |
b. allusively. Unchanging. (Cf. Dan. vi. 8.)
| 1882 H. S. Holland Life & Logic (1885) 2 A Median kingdom..whose laws..never know..change. |
B. n.
1. An inhabitant of Media; a Mede.
| 1601 Holland Pliny vi. xv. 122 Two citties of the Parthians, built sometimes as forts opposite against the Medians. 1901 Expositor Nov. 344 Gobryas, the general of Cyrus, a Median, appeared before Sippara. |
2. The language of ancient Media, a dialect related to Old Persian; = Medic n.2
| 1813 [see Kurd]. 1841 R. G. Latham Eng. Lang. i. i. 3 The Ossetic, a language spoken by an insulated tribe of Mount Caucasus, and a supposed remnant of the Ancient Median, is Indo-European. 1848 Trans. R. Irish Acad. XXI. ii. 241 In Median..sounds were sometimes confounded. Ibid. 244, I..observed some Median words transcribed in one of the inscriptions, and a few other words that, though altered, appeared to be of Persian or Median origin. 1908 T. G. Tucker Introd. Nat. Hist. Lang. 189 It has, however, been argued strongly that the Avestic language is in reality Old Median. 1939 L. H. Gray Foundations of Lang. 32 From the New Testament..we know that in the first century a.d. Parthian, Median, Elamite, Cappadocian, Pontic, Phrygian, Pamphylian, Cretic.., and Arabic were spoken. 1950 R. H. Kent Old Persian i. i. 6/2 Among the less known Old Iranian languages the most important was Median. |