middag

Middag is a term used in several Germanic languages with related but distinct meanings. In Dutch, the word literally means the middle of the day and is used to refer to the afternoon. In everyday speech one might say goeden middag to greet someone in the afternoon. The meal historically associated with this part of the day is not the common term today; Dutch uses lunch for the noon meal and avondeten or diner for the evening meal, with middagmaal or middageten appearing in more formal or older usage.

In Scandinavian languages the cognate form middag refers to the main daily meal, typically eaten in the evening. In Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, middag means the principal meal of the day, while lunch or frokost (Danish/Norwegian) or lunch (Swedish) is used for the midday meal. This reflects a broader regional shift in mealtime patterns, where the main daily meal moves from midday to the evening in many households.

Afrikaans also uses middag to denote the afternoon. The term appears in phrases such as middagete for the lunch meal and is contrasted with aandete or aandmaal for the evening dinner. In contemporary usage, terms for meals can vary by region and social context, with dinner, lunch, and afternoon phrases often aligned to local customs and schedules.

Overall, middag functions as a cross-linguistic root related to the middle of the day, while its specific culinary meaning—afternoon meal versus main daily meal—differs among Dutch, Scandinavian languages, and Afrikaans.