interniteo

Forms

interniteō (present infinitive internitēre, perfect active internituī); second conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin inter- + niteō (“to shine”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan explains niteō most easily from a lost participle *nitos (“made bright, shining”), but knows no Indo-European verbal root that fits its form and meaning.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Curtius is the first to use it,^[5][3][6] of stars glimpsed through the forest: etiam si qua sidera internitebant, “even where stars shone through here and there”, trees covered with continuous foliage kept them from being seen.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Curtius uses it several times: of whatever light shone through the clouds before it was put out by darkness, of the brightness of the sky now shining through and now hidden, of the gleam of weapons, and of gems glittering on a yoke.^[3][7][8] Pliny the Elder uses it of emeralds that shine out of the uncovered earth,^[7][3] and Solinus of a stone whose centre gleams like the pupil of an eye.^[3]

Timeline

• 1st century AD – Curtius uses it of stars, light and gems shining through.^[3][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of emeralds.^[7][6]
• first half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus uses it of a gleaming stone.^[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shine through or among; to gleam here and there, at intervals.^[2][5][7]

Related words

• niteō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier