The story
- Proto-Indo-European · derived from*médʰyos“middle”
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*midjagardaz
- Old English · inherited frommiddaneard“Middle Earth”
- Middle English · inherited frommyddelerthe
- English todayMiddle Earth
From Middle English myddelerthe, middelerthe; an alteration of earlier middelerd; in turn an alteration of earlier middenerd; from Old English middaneard (“Middle Earth”), variant of middanġeard (“Earth, the world”, literally “the middle yard, enclosure, or realm”) mis- or reinterpreting its meaning, from Proto-Germanic *midjagardaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”) and *gʰórdʰos (“enclosure”). Cognate with Norwegian & English Midgard (q.v.) and Danish, Norwegian, & Swedish Midgård.
Words from the same roots
Proto-Indo-European*médʰyos all →
mediamiddlemediummidmedianmeridianmezzaninemediomoietyimellmi-parti
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.