metior

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *mētis, from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”). Cognates include Ancient Greek μῆτις (mêtis), μέτρον (métron), μέτριος (métrios), Old Church Slavonic мѣра (měra), compare Hungarian mér, Russian ме́ра (méra), Serbo-Croatian mera, ме̏ра, and mjera, mjȅra, and English meal.

The formation of its supine-stem derivatives with interfixed -n- is irregular, probably due to analogy with pēnsus (“weighed”).^[1]

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmeː.ti.ɔr]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛt.t͡si.or]

Verb

mētior (present infinitive mētīrī, perfect active mēnsus sum or mētītus sum); fourth conjugation, deponent

to measure or estimate
Quis mēnsus est pugillō aquās, et caelōs palmō ponderāvit?
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
to distribute or mete out
to traverse

Conjugation

The perfect participle mētītus is post-Classical.

Conjugation of mētior (fourth conjugation, deponent)

indicative		singular				plural
indicative		first	second		third	first	second		third
active	present	mētior	mētīris, mētīre		mētītur	mētīmur	mētīminī		mētiuntur
	imperfect	mētiēbar	mētiēbāris, mētiēbāre		mētiēbātur	mētiēbāmur	mētiēbāminī		mētiēbantur
	future	mētiar	mētiēris, mētiēre		mētiētur	mētiēmur	mētiēminī		mētientur
	perfect	mēnsus or mētītus + present active indicative of sum
	pluperfect	mēnsus or mētītus + imperfect active indicative of sum
	future perfect	mēnsus or mētītus + future active indicative of sum
subjunctive		singular				plural
subjunctive		first	second		third	first	second		third
active	present	mētiar	mētiāris, mētiāre		mētiātur	mētiāmur	mētiāminī		mētiantur
	imperfect	mētīrer	mētīrēris, mētīrēre		mētīrētur	mētīrēmur	mētīrēminī		mētīrentur
	perfect	mēnsus or mētītus + present active subjunctive of sum
	pluperfect	mēnsus or mētītus + imperfect active subjunctive of sum
imperative		singular				plural
imperative		first	second		third	first	second		third
active	present	—	mētīre		—	—	mētīminī		—
active	future	—	mētītor		mētītor	—	—		mētiuntor
non-finite forms		infinitive				participle
non-finite forms		active		passive		active		passive
present		mētīrī		—		mētiēns		—
future		mēnsūrum esse, mētītūrum esse		—		mēnsūrus, mētītūrus		mētiendus, mētiundus
perfect		mēnsum esse, mētītum esse		—		mēnsus, mētītus		—
future perfect		mēnsum fore, mētītum fore		—		—		—
perfect potential		mēnsūrum fuisse, mētītūrum fuisse		—		—		—
verbal nouns		gerund					supine
		genitive	dative		accusative	ablative	accusative		ablative
		mētiendī	mētiendō		mētiendum	mētiendō	mēnsum, mētītum		mēnsū, mētītū

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Asturian: midir
English: mensurate
Old Galician-Portuguese: medir
- Galician: medir
- Portuguese: medir
Sardinian: medire, mediri, metire
Spanish: medir

References

^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “mēnsa”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 372–373

“metior”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“metior”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
“metior”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- to measure something by the standard of something else; to make something one's criterion: metiri, ponderare, aestimare, iudicare aliquid (ex) aliqua re

[1] De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “mēnsa”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 372–373

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