Etymologically
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inter

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɪn.tɛr][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈin.ter][1]

Forms

inter (+ accusative)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *n̥ter (“between”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér (“between”), an adverb of place derived from *h₁en (“in”) (see in).[2][1][3] The related adjective in ⟨*-tero-⟩ survives in intrā, intrō and interior, and the superlative intimus is inherited too.[2]

Cognate with Oscan anter (“between”) and Umbrian anter-, Old Irish eter (“between”), Sanskrit अन्तर् (antár, “between, within”) and Albanian ndër (“between, among”).[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Livius Andronicus on.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Inter means “between, among, amid”, of place and of a group (inter paucōs “as few others”), with verbs of dividing “among”, and of time “during, in the course of”.[3][5] With sē it expresses a mutual relation, “with one another”.[5] As an adverb it is rare and poetic, “in between”.[5]

Niermeyer records the medieval sense “including, in all”.[6] As the prefix inter- it adds the senses of the preposition.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 280–200 BC – First found in Livius Andronicus.[2][4]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius: ubi videt avēnam lolium crēscere inter trīticum, “weeds growing among the wheat”.[3][4]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius: inter tonitra et turbinēs, amid thunder and whirlwinds.[3][4]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. (with accusative) between, among, amid.[3][5]
  2. In the number of, among.[3]
  3. Among, between (with verbs of dividing).[3]
  4. During, in the course of (a time).[3][1]
  5. inter sē, with or to each other, mutually.[5]
  6. (Medieval Latin) Including, in all.[6]

Adverb

  1. (poetic) In between.[3][5]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill