MEAL. (1) (A word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Mehl, Du. meel; the ultimate source is the root seen in various Teutonic words meaning “to grind,” and in Eng. “mill,” Lat. mola, molěre, Gr. μύλη), a powder made from the edible part of any grain or pulse, with the exception of wheat, which is known as “flour.” In America the word is specifically applied to the meal produced from Indian corn or maize, as in Scotland and Ireland to that produced from oats, while in South Africa the ears of the Indian corn itself are called “mealies.” (2) Properly, eating and drinking at regular stated times of the day, as breakfast, dinner, &c., hence taking of food at any time and also the food provided. The word was in O.E. mael, which also had the meanings (now lost) of time, mark, measure, &c., which still appear in many forms of the word in Teutonic languages; thus Ger. mal, time, mark, cf. Denkmal, monument, Mahl, meal, repast, or Du. maal, Swed. mal, also with both meanings. The ultimate source is the pre-Teutonic root me- ma-, to measure, and the word thus stood for a marked-out point of time.
MEALIE, the South African name for Indian corn or maize. The word as spelled represents the pronunciation of the Cape Dutch milje, an adaptation of milho (da India), the millet of India, the Portuguese name for millet, used in South Africa for maize.
MEAN, an homonymous word, the chief uses of which may be divided thus. (1) A verb with two principal applications, to intend, purpose or design, and to signify. This word is in O.E. maenan, and cognate forms appear in other Teutonic languages, cf. Du. meenen, Ger. meinen. The ultimate origin is usually taken to be the root men-, to think, the root of “mind.” (2) An adjective and substantive meaning “that which is in the middle.” This is derived through the O. Fr. men, meien or moien, modern moyen, from the late Lat. adjective medianus, from medius, middle. The law French form mesne is still preserved in certain legal phrases (see [Mesne]). The adjective “mean” is chiefly used in the sense of “average,” as in mean temperature, mean birth or death rate, &c.
“Mean” as a substantive has the following principal applications; it is used of that quality, course of action, condition, state, &c., which is equally distant from two extremes, as in such phrases as the “golden (or happy) mean.” For the philosophic application see [Aristotle] and [Ethics].
In mathematics, the term “mean,” in its most general sense, is given to some function of two or more quantities which (1) becomes equal to each of the quantities when they themselves are made equal, and (2) is unaffected in value when the quantities suffer any transpositions. The three commonest means are the arithmetical, geometrical, and harmonic; of less importance are the contraharmonical, arithmetico-geometrical, and quadratic.
From the sense of that which stands between two things, “mean,” or the plural “means,” often with a singular construction, takes the further significance of agency, instrument, &c., of which that produces some result, hence resources capable of producing a result, particularly the pecuniary or other resources by which a person is enabled to live, and so used either of employment or of property, wealth, &c. There are many adverbial phrases, such as “by all means,” “by no means,” &c., which are extensions of “means” in the sense of agency.
The word “mean” (like the French moyen) had also the sense of middling, moderate, and this considerably influenced the uses of “mean” (3). This, which is now chiefly used in the sense of inferior, low, ignoble, or of avaricious, penurious, “stingy,” meant originally that which is common to more persons or things than one. The word in O. E. is gemaéne, and is represented in the modern Ger. gemein, common. It is cognate with Lat. communis, from which “common” is derived. The descent in meaning from that which is shared alike by several to that which is inferior, vulgar or low, is paralleled by the uses of “common.”
In astronomy the “mean sun” is a fictitious sun which moves uniformly in the celestial equator and has its right ascension always equal to the sun’s mean longitude. The time recorded by the mean sun is termed mean-solar or clock time; it is regular as distinct from the non-uniform solar or sun-dial time. The “mean moon” is a fictitious moon which moves around the earth with a uniform velocity and in the same time as the real moon. The “mean longitude” of a planet is the longitude of the “mean” planet, i.e. a fictitious planet performing uniform revolutions in the same time as the real planet.