interim

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈɪn.tər.ɪm/, US /ˈɪn.t̬ɚ.ɪm/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin interim (“in the meantime”),^[2][3][4] from inter, between, and -im, an old adverbial ending from the stem of the pronoun is, “this, that”, so that it originally meant “in the midst of that”.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Interim, a provisional arrangement of 1548 by the Emperor Charles V to settle religious differences between the German Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church until a council could decide them.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Any temporary arrangement is from 1558,^[5] and the meantime, the time between, from 1563–87 in the OED, the 1560s in Etymonline,^[5][3] first in an edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs.^[2] The adverb, meanwhile, is from 1580.^[5][7] The adjective, temporary or provisional (interim measures), is from 1604 in Merriam-Webster,^[7] and an interim dividend from 1930.^[5]

Timeline

• 1548 – the Interim (church history).^[2][5]
• 1558 – a temporary arrangement.^[5]
• 1563–87 – the meantime.^[5]
• 1580 – meanwhile (adverb).^[5]
• 1604 – temporary (adjective).^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. the interim: the time between two events; the meantime.

Adjective

1. Temporary or provisional; serving for the time being: an interim report.

Adverb

1. (rare) Meanwhile.

Related words

• ad interim
• inter-
• meantime

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster