intercursus

Forms

intercursus m (genitive intercursūs); fourth declension, usually found only in the ablative intercursū^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin intercurrō (“to run between”) + -tus, a noun of action.^[1][4] The verb is formed on currō (“to run”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kr̥s-e/o- (“to run”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Livy is the first to use it, of people stepping in between others: a brawl was stopped by the intervention of the consuls (consulum intercursu rixa sedata est).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Livy it is the act of running in between and so of intervening.^[2][6] Seneca used it for the moon passing in front of the sun and for lightning flashing at intervals through a dreadful night,^[6][3] and Tacitus for the intervention of the tribunes.^[6]

In medieval Latin it came to mean the passing of time,^[7] and Niermeyer records agreements between two lordships: about the status of children of parents belonging to different lords, about dependants moving from one lordship to another, and about revenues due to vassals with lands in another barony.^[8]

Timeline

• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses the ablative intercursu for the intervention of the consuls.^[2][9]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of the moon coming between and of flashes of lightning.^[6][3][9]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of the intervention of the tribunes.^[6][9]
• 1190 – Köbler records a charter using it.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of running between; intervention, interposition.^[1][2]
2. The coming in between of a heavenly body (the moon in an eclipse); appearance at intervals.^[3][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) The passing (of time).^[7]
4. (Medieval Latin) An agreement between two lordships about their dependants, their offspring or their revenues.^[8]

Usage notes

Lewis & Short also list intercursus as the perfect participle of intercurrō.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de