The noun 'mean' (average) entered English from Old French 'meien' (middle), from Latin 'mediānus,' from PIE *médʰyos (middle) — the same root behind 'median,' 'medium,' and 'Mediterranean,' and entirely unrelated to 'mean' the verb or 'mean' the adjective.
The average value of a set of numbers; the middle point or intermediate state between two extremes.
From Old French 'meien' (middle, intermediate), from Latin 'mediānus' (of or relating to the middle), from 'medius' (middle), from PIE *médʰyos (middle). The mathematical sense of 'average' developed in the 17th century from the older sense of 'middle, intermediate' — the arithmetic mean being the value in the middle of a data set. This is etymologically unrelated to both 'mean' (to intend, from PIE *men-) and 'mean' (unkind, from PIE *mey-) — three separate word-histories from three separate PIE roots that happen to share spelling and pronunciation in modern English, a perfect