interiectus

Forms

interiectus m (genitive interiectūs); fourth declension^[1] Lewis and Short and Gaffiot spell it interjectus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin intericiō (“to throw or place between”) + -tus, a noun of action from that verb.^[1][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in Cicero's De natura deorum, where the moon is suddenly eclipsed by the interposition of the earth (interpositu interiectuque terrae).^[1][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The TLL records it once in Cicero, then in Tacitus and in poetry.^[4] Besides the placing or coming of one thing between others, it was used of an interval of time: in Tacitus, Tiberius is not softened by the lapse of time (interiectu temporis).^[1][2][3] Apuleius speaks of setting stones down at random intervals.^[2]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the earth coming between the sun and the moon.^[1][4][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of an interval of time.^[1][3][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of stones set down at intervals.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The placing or coming between, interposition, intervention.^[1][2]
2. The interposition of a period of time, an interval.^[1][2][3]

Related words

• interiectiō

Usage notes

Nearly all examples are in the ablative singular.^[4][2] The same form is also the perfect passive participle of intericiō, “placed between”.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de