interdum

Forms

interdum (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin inter (“between”) + dum (“while”).^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[3] who makes Jupiter say ego sum ille Amphitruō … quī interdum fīō Iuppiter, quandō lubet, “I am that Amphitryon who now and then becomes Jupiter, whenever I like”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Interdum is “at times, now and then, occasionally”, like nōnnumquam (Cicero: interdum cursus est in ōrātiōne incitātior, interdum moderāta ingressiō, “in a speech there is sometimes a swifter pace, sometimes a measured step”).^[2][4][1] In Silius and later it can also mean “meanwhile, for the time being”.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “sometimes, occasionally, now and then”,^[5] and in Medieval Latin “meanwhile” is common.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: quī interdum fīō Iuppiter.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: interdum cursus est in ōrātiōne incitātior.^[4][3]
• 25–101 AD – Silius uses it in the sense “meanwhile”.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. sometimes, at times, now and then, occasionally.^[2][4][1][5]
2. meanwhile, in the meantime; for the time being.^[2][6]

Word family

• interduātim

Related words

• inter
• dum
• interim

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill