intercessus

Forms

intercessus m (genitive intercessūs); fourth declension^[1][2] In Classical texts it occurs only in the ablative singular, intercessū.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin intercēdō (“to come between, intervene”), formed with the suffix of verbal nouns in ⟨-tus⟩.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest instance is in Valerius Maximus, where someone saves his wounded father “by his intervention” (intercessū suō), but the reading is uncertain: Kempf conjectured intercursū from Livy.^[3][4] Certain instances begin with the jurists at the end of the 3rd century AD.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is the intervention of a person on another's behalf, a synonym of intercessiō;^[3][1] in imperial rescripts a governor prevents injustice by the intervention of his authority.^[2][3] It was also used of time coming between, an interval: the Itala has it in Luke for “about an hour later”, where the Vulgate has intervallō, and Orosius speaks of a short interval of time.^[3][5]

In Medieval Latin it kept both senses: intercession, especially of saints (Jonas of Bobbio tells of a mother forgiven through her daughter’s intercession),^[6][7][8] and an interval of time, as in William of Malmesbury.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 31 AD – Valerius Maximus has it, on an uncertain reading.^[3][4]
• 286 AD – A rescript in the Fragmenta Vaticana speaks of a governor's intervention by his authority.^[3]
• 417/418 AD – Orosius uses it of an interval of time.^[5][10]
• 435/439 AD – Salvian uses it of a person's intercession.^[2][5][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Intervention, mediation.^[1][2][5]
2. (Late Latin) An interval of time.^[5][4][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) Intercession, especially of a saint.^[6][7][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de