Medieval (term)
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- This page is about things related to the term medieval. For the Medieval period itself, see the Middle Ages.
Medieval is most commonly known in relation to the Middle Ages of Europen history. It can also refer more generally to things that are old, "byzantine", "gothic", crude, heavy, harsh, or dark in nature.
The term is contracted from the Latin phrase medium aevum for "middle age" (more precisely "middle epoch"), a term first coined by Italian humanist Flavio Biondo around 1483, based on an earlier conception by Leonardo Bruni of a three-tier view of history, ultimately deriving from Petrarch's pejorative idea of a "Dark Age". The term medieval became widely used with Enlightenment thinkers as a pejorative description of the Middle Ages.
The spelling of "medieval" may depend on context, and may itself connote meaning or character.
- medieval is the modern English spelling, used in normal discourse.
- mediaeval is a more old-fashioned spelling, referring to the word's Latin roots somewhat, and perhaps implying British memes.
References in Literature & the Media
Pulp Fiction
What now? Let me tell you what now: I'm gonna call a couple o' hard, pipe-hittin' niggers, who'll go to work on the holmes here with a pair of pliers and a blow torch. You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'm gonna get medieval on yo' ass. -- Ving Rhames, as Marsellus Wallace