medusn.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Middle French medus, mede (11th cent. in Anglo-Norman as medus) and its etymon post-classical Latin medus (c1200 in a British source, although presumably earlier), altered form of classical Latin mēdīa a kind of gem (Pliny), either < the place name Mēdia or < the personal name Mēdēa. Compare Byzantine Greek μήδιος a precious stone from Media.Pliny ( Nat. Hist. 37. 173) describes the stone as follows: ‘Media nigra est, ab Media illa fabulosa inventa; habet venas aurei coloris, sudorem reddit croci, saporem vini.’ On the most natural interpretation of this quotation, Mēdīa here is a personal name, probably an altered form of Mēdēa . On the other hand, Hesychius and medieval writers took the origin of the name of the stone to be the place name Mēdia (see Median n.¹ and adj.¹). This interpretation probably explains the later alteration of the name, after classical Latin Mēdus ‘of or from Media’ (see Mede n.). The β. forms (see quot. 1601) appear to be have been reanalysed as though < mead n.², on account of the green colour of the stone.