a city or the metropolis; _e.g._ Medina, in Arabia, called by the Arabs _Medinat-al-Nabi_ (the city of the prophet). In Spain: Medina-de-las-torres (the city of the towers); Medina-del-campo (of the plain); Medina-delpomar (of the apple-orchard); Medina-del-rio-seco (of the dry river-bed); Medina-Sidonia (of the Sidonians). This city was so named by the Moors, because they believed it to have been built on the site of the Phœnician city Asidur. [Sidenote: MEER, MERE (Teut.),] a lake, sea, or marsh; _e.g._ Blakemere (the black lake, _blaec_), in Hereford; Great Marlow or Merelow (the hill by the marsh); Cranmere (the crane’s lake or marsh); Winandermere, so called, according to Camden, from the _winding_ of its shores; Wittleseamere, Buttermere, and Ellsmere, probably from personal names; Meerfeld, Meerhof, Meerholz, and Meerhout (the field, court, and wood near the lake or marsh), in Holland. But _mere_, in place-names, is said sometimes to mean a boundary--thus _Merse_, the other name for Berwickshire, may mean either the marshy land or the boundary county between England and Scotland. Closely connected with _meer_ (a lake) are the words in the Celtic as well as in the Teutonic languages, denoting marshy lands, _i.e._ lands that have lain under water, and are still partially submerged--such as _merse_, A.S.; _morast_, Ger.; _morfa_, Welsh; _marish_, Gadhelic; _marsk_, Scand.; and _marais_, Fr. Many places in Great Britain and the Continent derive their names from these words, thus--the Maros or Marosh; and the Morava (marshy rivers); Moravia (the district of the marshy river); Morast, in Sweden (the town on the marsh); Merton, in Berwickshire (the town on the marsh); Morebattle, in Roxburghshire, anc. _Mereboda_ (the dwelling on the marsh); Ostermarsh (east marsh), in Holland; Marengo (the marshy field), in Italy; Les Moeres (the marshes), in Flanders; Marchienne, Marchienes, Maresché, Maresches, Marest, etc., in France; Marcienisi, in Italy (marshy localities). The River Mersey may come from this word, or it may mean the border river between England and Wales. [Sidenote: MENIL, MESNIL (Fr.),] from _Mansionile_, the dim. of _mansus_; _e.g._ Grandmenil (the great dwelling or hamlet); Le Menil-la-comtesse (the manor of the countess); Mesnil-église (the church hamlet); Mesnil-Guillaume, Mesnil-Gilbert, Mesnil-Jourdan, named from the proprietors; Mesnil-sur-l’Estrée (the hamlet on the Roman road called _Strata Estrée_); Les Menils, Menillot, etc., in France. [Sidenote: MENZIL (Ar.),] a village; _e.g._ Miselmeri, corrupt. from _Menzil-el-Emir_ (the emir’s village); Mezojuso, from _Menzil-Yusuf_ (the village of Joseph). [Sidenote: MEON (Cel.), MIO (Scand.),] little, cognate with the Lat. _minor_; _e.g._ the Rivers Minnow and Mynwy, in Wales; the Mincio, in Italy; the Minho, in Portugal; Minorca (the less), in opposition to Majorca (the greater island); Miosen (the little sea or lake), in Norway.