Etymologically
Log in

intereo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 23:00. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪnˈtɛ.re.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [inˈtɛː.re.o][1]

Forms

intereō (present infinitive interīre, perfect active interiī or interīvī, supine interitum); irregular conjugation, no passive[1] An inscription has the perfect interieistī.[2] Apuleius has interīvit.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin inter- (“between, among”) + eō (“to go”).[2][1] The literal sense was to go among other things so as to be lost to view, as Lewis & Short explain.[3] De Vaan traces eō to Proto-Italic *ei- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”), with Umbrian and Paelignian cognates.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Poenulus: ut ego hanc familiam interīre cupiō, “how I want this household to perish”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Of living things it is to die or perish, of a race or breed to die out (Gracchus: lest our family die out from the root), and in comedy “to be ruined, done for” (Ennius' heu mē miseram, interiī).[2] Of material things it is to be destroyed or to disappear, as Cicero's countless worlds that arise and perish every day, and of a benefit done to a bad man, to be wasted (Plautus).[2] Of non-material things it is to cease, and of words and customs to fall out of use (Varro).[2] Plautus contrasts dying with being forgotten: quī per virtūtem periit, at nōn interit, “who died bravely, does not perish”.[2]

Döderlein lists it among the verbs of dying.[5] Church Latin glosses it “die, perish”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a family perishing.[2][7]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius: interiī, “I am done for”.[2][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of words falling out of use.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of worlds perishing.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To die, perish; to die out; to be ruined.[2][1][6]
  2. To be destroyed, disappear.[2][1]
  3. To be lost, wasted.[2]
  4. To cease; to fall into disuse; to be forgotten.[2]

Word family

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 i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de