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intermissio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word intermissio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin (mittō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin intermitto
Latin intermissio

Forms

intermissiō f (genitive intermissiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin intermittō (“to leave off, interrupt”) + -tiō.[2][3] intermittō is a compound of inter (“between”) and mittō (“to let go, send”).[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it first,[5] of a break from work in the forum and in the phrase sine ulla intermissione, “without any break”.[6]

Semantic evolution

It is a break in something continuous, a pause, and in the courts an adjournment.[2] Cicero, in the Hortensius, has “without the least interval of time”.[2] Celsus uses it, in the plural, of the intermissions of a fever and of the gaps in a spreading skin disease.[2][3] The jurist Ulpian has a servitude divided by an interval of time.[2] Church Latin keeps “ceasing, intermission”.[7] English intermission comes from it, first in the early 15th century.[4]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, “without any break”.[6][2][5]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus, of the intermissions of a fever.[2][5]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian, of an interval of time.[2][5]
  • early 15th century – English intermission.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A break, interruption, pause, intermission; an adjournment.[2][6][1][7]
  2. (medicine) The intermission of a fever; a lucid interval.[2]
  3. An interval of time.[2]
  4. A gap in space.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Intermissio.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/intermissio. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·