intercipio

Forms

intercipiō (present infinitive intercipere, perfect active intercēpī, supine interceptum); third (-iō variant) conjugation^[1] Frontinus spells it intercap-.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from inter- (“between”) and capiō (“to take”), with the vowel weakened to ⟨i⟩.^[2][4][3] De Vaan derives ⟨capiō⟩ from Proto-Italic *kap-i- (“to seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p-i- or a non-Indo-European ⟨*kap-⟩, cognate with Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”) and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍆𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hafjan, “to lift”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has “will you ransom me if the enemy catch me on the way?” in the Asinaria.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is to catch something on its way, to intercept, of people and forces, of animals, as Mela's tiger cubs, of poison meant for another, as in Cicero, and of water diverted from its course, as in Seneca.^[2][4] It is to cut someone off from his own people, as in Livy, and to seize a place, as Livy's enemy holding every good position between the consuls' camps.^[2] It is to take what belongs to another, steal or usurp, as Terence's “she takes what we should get”.^[2][4][1] It is to interrupt, to cut short, as Propertius' old age that cuts off love, and to carry off by death, as Columella's bees often taken by disease.^[2][4][1]

Church Latin glosses it “intercept, interrupt, rob”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of capture by the enemy.^[2][7]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of stealing.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of intercepted poison.^[2][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of seizing positions.^[2][7]
• 1st century AD – Columella of bees carried off by disease.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To intercept, catch on the way; to divert (water).^[2][4][1][6]
2. To cut off, separate.^[2]
3. To seize, occupy (a place).^[2]
4. To steal, purloin; to usurp.^[2][4][1][6]
5. To interrupt; to cut short.^[2][1][6]
6. To carry off (by death).^[2]

Word family

• interceptiō
• interceptor
• interceptus

Related words

• capiō
• excipiō
• praecipiō
• ēripiō

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 h i j k l m n o p q r 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. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de