intercessor

Forms

intercessor m (genitive intercessōris, feminine intercestrīx); third declension^[1] The feminine is intercestrīx.^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin intercēdō (“to come between, intervene”) + -tor.^[2][3] intercēdō is a compound of inter (“between”) and cēdō¹ (“to go”),^[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *kesd-e/o- (“to go away, avoid”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it first.^[5] In the speeches on the agrarian law he says a veto would only show the vetoer's folly, not stop the measure.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is first a person who interposes a veto, such as a tribune, and one who steps in to prevent something: in the De legibus whoever blocks a bad measure is to be held a saving citizen.^[2] It is also an intermediary or agent, and a mediator in a dispute, as in Cicero's Pro Roscio Amerino.^[2] In money matters it is a surety: Cicero jokes that if his friend were always tribune he would not need to look for a guarantor.^[6] Apuleius has it of a go-between who pleads for someone.^[6] Ancient glossaries explain it as a mediator, a peacemaker and a reconciler of favour.^[3] Wiktionary gives “mediator, intercessor”.^[1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a vetoer, a mediator and a surety.^[2][6][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius, of a go-between.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who interposes a veto; one who intervenes to prevent something.^[2][6]
2. An intermediary, agent; a mediator in a dispute.^[2][6][1]
3. A surety in money matters.^[6]
4. An intercessor, one who pleads for another.^[1][6]

Related words

• intercēdō
• intercessiō
• cēdō¹
• English intercessor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press