"social media" + "samfélagsmiðill"

so, we have this term we all love to hate:

• social ("something to do with others")
• media ("some tool that helps you talk to many others")

…but let's look at what "social" and "media" truly mean:

"social"

• Latin socialis ("belonging to a companionship")
  • Latin socius ("a companion")
    • Latin sequor ("to follow")
      • Proto-Italic *sekʷōr ("to follow")
        • PIE *sekw- ("to follow", "to go after")

("second", both meaning "time" and "after the first", also stem from this!)

so … now we know why we say "follow" in "social media" (!)

"media"

• Latin medius ("middle")
  • Proto-Italic *meðjos ("middle")
    • PIE *médʰyos ("middle")
      • PIE *médʰi ("with")

"media" goes all the way back to words for "middle" and "with"

thus, "social media" merely means something we "follow with"

"samfélagsmiðill"

Icelandic words for new things look like nightmares, but if we split them up into smaller words, we can see the straightforwardness of it all:

• samfélag[s] ("social", "fellowship")
  • sam- ("together"; akin to "same" in English)
    • Proto-Germanic *samaz ("same", "alike")
      • PIE *somHós ("same")
      • PIE *sem- ("together")
  • félag ("fellow")
• miðill ("media", "medium")
  • Proto-Germanic midlą ("middle")
    • PIE *medhyos ("middle")
      • PIE *médʰi ("with")

Icelandic thus thinks about "togetherness" (make of that what you will) when it comes to "social media"!