Etymology

mezzanine

mez·zan·ine
M3E1Z10Z10A1N1I1N1E1

Today it means: An intermediate floor or storey in between the main floors of a building; specifically, one that is directly above the ground floor which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, and so resembles a large balcony overlooking the ground floor; an entresol. Full definition →

French mezzanine ← Italian mezzanino ← Latin mediānus
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*médʰyos“middle”
  2. Latin · derived frommediānus“central, middle”
  3. Italian · borrowed frommezzanino
  4. French · borrowed frommezzanine
  5. English todaymezzanine

PIE word *médʰyos The noun is borrowed from French mezzanine, and from its etymon Italian mezzanino, from mezzano (“(adjective) middle; (noun) go-between”) + -ino (diminutive suffix). Mezzano is derived from Latin mediānus (“central, middle”, adjective), from medius (“mid, middle”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.

Words from the same roots

Latinmediānus all →

medianmizzen

Proto-Indo-European*médʰyos all →

mediamiddlemediummidmedianmeridianmediomoietyimellmiddle earthmi-parti

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.