Mediterranean Sea
proper noun
- sea separating Europe from Africa
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˌmɛ.dɪ.təˈɹeɪ.nɪ.ən ˈsiː/ / /ˌmɛ.də.təˈɹeɪ.ni.ən ˈsi/ / /ˌmɛ.də.təˈɹeɪ.njən ˈsi/
name
Etymology: Calque of Late Latin Mare Mediterraneum.
- The sea between Europe and Africa.
noun
Etymology: PIE word *médʰyos The word mediterranean is from Latin mediterrāneus (“inland, remote from the coast”) + English -an (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’). Mediterrāneus is derived from medius (“middle”) + terra (“dry land, ground”), modelled after Ancient Greek μεσόγαιος (mesógaios, “located in the midst of land”). The English word is cognate with Middle French méditerranéen (modern French méditerranéen), Italian mediterraneo, Spanish mediterráneo.
- A mostly enclosed sea that has limited exchange of deep water with outer oceans, and where the water circulation is dominated by salinity and temperature differences rather than winds.
“To this day they haue not diſouered at the Indies any Mediterranean Sea, as in Europe, Aſia, and Affrica, into the which there enters ſome arme of this great Sea, and makes diſtinct Seas, taking their names from the Prouinces they waſh: and almoſt all of the Mediterranean Seas continue and ioyne together, and with the Ocean it ſelfe, by the ſtraight of Gibraltar, which the Ancients called, the Pillers of Hercules, […]”
“This will account for the Caſpian Sea being always at a Stand, and neither waſting or overflowing; and alſo for the Current ſaid to ſet always in at the Streights of Gibraltar, notwithſtanding that thoſe Mediterranean''' ſeas receive ſo many, and ſo conſiderable Rivers.”