Meddix or medix, natively meddíss,was a title used by the Osco-Umbrians meaning "magistrate".

Meddix is derived from the compound medV(s)-diks meaning "one who speaks law".^[1] Because of similarities in meaning, meddix has been compared to Latin iudex (judge).^[2] The term is attested in Paelignan, Volscian, Marsian, Marrucinian, and Oscan insciptions.^[3]

The term is very rarely used by roman writers, who prefer to substitute the word "praetor" or στρατηγος (strategos) instead. It is still occasionally used.^[4] The term is attested in Oscan inscriptions as meddíss.^[5]

The meddix tuticus was the head of state.^[4] Under this position, a person had "unfettered" control over his tribe.^[4] The meddix tuticus was the supreme military, religious, and legal official of the state.^[4] The meddix tuticus also presided over the finances and could consult a council.^[4] The meddix tuticus was reelected once a year.^[4] Unlike the Roman consulate, there could only be one meddix tuticus^[6], but this varied by tribe.^[7]

• Mettius Fufetius^[8]

• de Vaan, Michiel (2008). Etymological dictionary of Latin and the other Italic languages. Leiden Indo-European etymological dictionary series. Leiden ; Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-16797-1. OCLC 225873936.
• Noonan, J. D. (2006). "Mettius Fufetius in Livy". Classical Antiquity. 25 (2): 327–349. doi:10.1525/ca.2006.25.2.327. ISSN 0278-6656.
• Salmon, Edward Togo (2010). Samnium and the Samnites (Digitally printed version ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-521-06185-8. (originally published 1967)
• Maggiani, Adriano (2024), "Magistrates and Political Institutions", The Oxford Handbook of Pre-Roman Italy (1000--49 BCE), Oxford University Press, pp. 533–545, ISBN 978-0-19-998789-4, retrieved 2024-05-30
• Forsythe, Gary (2006). A critical history of early Rome: from prehistory to the first Punic War. The Joan Palevsky imprint in classical literature (1. paperback printing ed.). Berkeley, Calif.: Univ. of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24991-2.
• Van Dusen, Rachel (2009). "Saving Face: Pentrian Samnite Elites in the Aftermath of the SamniteWars (343-290 B.C.E.)". Etruscan Studies. 12 (1). doi:10.1515/etst.2009.12.1.153. ISSN 2163-8217.
• Stek, Tesse (2009). Cult Places and Cultural Change in Republican Italy : A Contextual Approach to Religious Aspects of Rural Society after the Roman Conquest. Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 978-90-8964-177-9.