interlino

Forms

interlinō (present infinitive interlinere, perfect active interlēvī, supine interlitum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin inter- (“between”) + linō (“to smear”).^[2][3][1] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *lina- (“to smear”) and to the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *h₂li-n-H-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero (81–43 BC),^[5] in the speeches against Verres, of account books that “cry out that they have been tampered with and blotted” (tabulae quae se corruptas atque interlitas esse clamant), that is, falsified by smearing out entries.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Livy uses it in a builder's sense, of rubble that was not set in mortar but daubed with mud in the gaps,^[2][6] and Curtius of a wall with bitumen spread between the stones.^[6] Pliny the Elder has it, with the dative, of cheese smeared alternately with oil.^[2] Glossaries also give a participle interlinitus, as if from a verb of the fourth conjugation.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of account books blotted to falsify them.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of rubble daubed with mud between the stones.^[2][5]
• 1st century AD – Curtius uses it of a wall with bitumen laid in its joints.^[6][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of cheese smeared alternately with oil.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To daub in between or in the gaps of a structure, to bind it together.^[2][6]
2. To smear on alternately (with the dative).^[2]
3. To blot or smear out part of a document, so as to falsify it.^[2][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press