method n.

word-forming element of Greek origin meaning 1. "after, behind; among, between," 2. "changed, altered," 3. "higher, beyond;" from Greek meta (prep.) "in the midst of; in common with; by means of; between; in pursuit or quest of; after, next after, behind," in compounds most often meaning "change" of place, condition, etc. This is from PIE *me- "in the middle" (source also of German mit, Gothic miþ, Old English mið "with, together with, among").

The notion of "changing places with" probably led to the senses of "change of place, order, or nature," which was a principal meaning of the Greek word when used as a prefix (but it also denoted "community, participation; in common with; pursuing").

The third, modern, sense, "higher than, transcending, overarching, dealing with the most fundamental matters of," is due to misinterpretation of metaphysics (q.v.) as "science of that which transcends the physical." This has led to a prodigious erroneous extension in modern usage, with meta- affixed to the names of other sciences and disciplines, especially in the academic jargon of literary criticism: Metalanguage (1936) "a language which supplies terms for the analysis of an 'object' language;" metalinguistics (by 1949); metahistory (1957), metacommunication, etc.

late Old English, the second book of the Old Testament, from Latin exodus, from Greek exodos "a military expedition; a solemn procession; departure; death," literally "a going out," from ex "out" (see ex-) + hodos "a way, path, road; a ride, journey, march," figuratively "way out, means," a word of uncertain origin. The book is so called because it tells of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. General sense (with lower-case -e-) "departure from a place," especially "the migration of large bodies of people or animals from one country or region to another," is from 1620s.

Beekes derives the Greek word from PIE *sod- "course" and says it is traditionally connected with Slavic words for "course" (such as Russian xod "course, progress," "which might have been borrowed from Iranian") and adds that it is perhaps also related to Sanskrit a-sad- "to tread on, go on," Avestan apa-had- "to go away; become weak," "but the relation between them is unclear, as is the connection to the PIE root *sed- "sit" (proposed in Watkins, etc.)."