interpolation

Forms

interpolation f (plural interpolations)^[1] Middle French interpollation, interpolacion.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin interpolātiō (“a changing here and there”), which in Late Latin also meant “alteration, error”, a noun formed on the supine of interpolō (“to refurbish, alter”).^[4][5][6][7] Etymonline analyses the verb as inter (“between”) and an element related to poliō (“to polish”).^[8] Littré compares Old Occitan interpolacio.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pierre Bersuire's translation of Livy (about 1354–1359) uses it for an “interruption”: the knights were angry that their wrath recevoit interpollation, was interrupted.^[2][4][3] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary has the sense “interruption, break” already from the second quarter of the 13th century.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The sense “interruption” belongs to Middle French only.^[4] In medicine it named the periodic pause in the cycle of a fever (Gordon, about 1450–1500).^[2] In the 16th century (1546) it meant the action of polishing or restoring something.^[3][6]

The modern sense, the insertion into a text of words that were not in it, dates from 1702 according to the TLFi and the DHLF.^[4][6] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert give 1706.^[3][11] The mathematical sense follows in 1812, in Mozin's dictionary, and statistics later took it over for the estimate of a value from its neighbours.^[4][11][5] English interpolation (1610s) is from the French word or directly from Latin.^[8]

Timeline

• 1354–1359 – Bersuire uses interpollation for an interruption.^[2][3]
• c. 1450–1500 – Gordon's medical treatise uses it for the pause in a fever's cycle.^[2]
• 1546 – Used for the polishing or restoring of something.^[3]
• 1610s – English interpolation appears.^[8]
• 1702 – Ruinart uses it for the altering of a text.^[4][6]
• 1706 – The date the Robert dictionaries give for the modern sense.^[3][11]
• 1812 – Mozin records the mathematical sense.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The insertion into a text of words or passages that were not in the original; a passage so inserted: Ce paragraphe est une interpolation tardive.^[12][11][4]
2. (mathematics) The inserting of intermediate values or terms in a series of known ones; the approximation of a function from such values.^[11][9]
3. (statistics) The estimating of a value from neighbouring values in a short series.^[11][12]
4. (computing) The resizing of an image by increasing or reducing its number of pixels.^[13]

Related words

• interpoler
• interpolateur
• Latin interpolātiō
• English interpolation

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
3. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 759b
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
13. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org