interpret

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English interpreten,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French interpreter (“to explain; to translate”),^[5][6][2] and also directly from Latin interpretor (“to explain, expound, translate, understand”).^[6][5][3] In Anglo-Norman the verb is found from 1155.^[7] Barnhart suggests that it may partly be a back-formation from interpretation, recorded a little earlier (probably about 1350).^[3] The Latin verb is formed on interpres (“agent, broker, negotiator; explainer, translator”),^{[5][8][9][10]} from inter (“between”) and a second element whose origin is disputed.^[5][9] Klein, Merriam-Webster and Collins connect it with pretium (“price, value”), and Weekley thought an interpres was first a helper in bargain-making;^{[10][8][11][12]} Etymonline reports Watkins's root Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to traffic in, sell”) and de Vaan's view that the root is rather the one meaning "to lead, pass over", comparing Ancient Greek πόρος (póros, “passage, way”);^[5] the OED compares a Sanskrit root meaning "to spread abroad";^[6] and Hoad calls the element unknown.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To explain the meaning of something obscure or mysterious, such as words, writings or a dream: 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible.^[6][3] Etymonline gives the late 14th century and the sense "expound the meaning of, render clear or explicit".^[5]

Semantic evolution

Already in the Wycliffite writings the verb could mean to explain something in a particular way, or to construe actions favourably or unfavourably (c. 1380), and, used intransitively, to give an explanation and specifically to act as an interpreter (c. 1384); the general sense "to translate" is now gone.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as to explain, translate, decipher and expound, with examples from the story of Joseph in Genesis.^[13] Later senses extend the idea of making out a meaning: to explain something to oneself (1795, in Cowper), to bring out the meaning of a play, piece of music or landscape in performance or art (1880), to read information from aerial photographs (1950), and in computing to execute a program by means of an interpreter (1965).^[6] A noun interpret, an interpreter, was used once by King James VI in 1584.^[6]

Timeline

• 1382 – to expound the meaning of something obscure.^[6][3]
• c. 1380 – to explain in a particular way; to construe.^[6]
• c. 1384 – to act as an interpreter.^[6]
• 1530 – to render by a specified term (obsolete by 1690).^[6]
• 1584 – the noun interpret, an interpreter.^[6]
• 1795 – to make out the meaning of, for oneself.^[6]
• 1880 – to bring out the meaning of a work in performance.^[6]
• 1950 – to read information from aerial photographs.^[6]
• 1965 – (computing) to execute a program with an interpreter.^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To explain the meaning of something: Historians still disagree on how to interpret the letter.
2. To understand or take something in a particular way; to construe: She interpreted his silence as consent.
3. To bring out the meaning of a play, piece of music or other work in performance, according to one's own understanding of it.
4. To translate orally between people who speak different languages; to act as an interpreter.
5. To obtain information from aerial or other photographs.
6. (computing) To execute a program by means of an interpreter.

Word family

• interpretability
• interpretable
• interpretably
• preinterpret

Related words

• interpretation
• interpretative
• interpreter
• interpretive
• misinterpret
• reinterpret
• price
• precious

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.