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mesne - adj., (Law) intermediary or intervening.
Long first e, silent s and last e: pronounced like "mean." Note also demesne. From Norman French, from the same Latin root medianus that gives us median and mean-as-in-middle. In feudal law, a mesne lord is someone who holds land from one lord and grants some of it to another person, and so is tenant to one and lord of the other. There are some other legal uses, but this one strikes me as extensible to someone who sublets an apartment being a mesne landlord.
And that ends this week of Words My True Love Gave Me; back next week to the regular random mix.
---L.
Long first e, silent s and last e: pronounced like "mean." Note also demesne. From Norman French, from the same Latin root medianus that gives us median and mean-as-in-middle. In feudal law, a mesne lord is someone who holds land from one lord and grants some of it to another person, and so is tenant to one and lord of the other. There are some other legal uses, but this one strikes me as extensible to someone who sublets an apartment being a mesne landlord.
And that ends this week of Words My True Love Gave Me; back next week to the regular random mix.
---L.
