interruptio

Forms

interruptiō f (genitive interruptiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin interrumpō (“to break off”) + -tiō.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Quintilian (c. 35–95/96 AD),^[3][4] as the rhetorical figure of breaking off in mid-sentence, the Greek aposiopesis.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The TLL finds it in prose from Festus and Quintilian on.^[5] Besides the figure of speech it meant any interruption or break: the jurist Paul defines usurpatio as the interruption of usucapion,^[4][6] Jerome speaks of a break in a wall, Martianus Capella of a break in the Ocean, and Macrobius uses it for a division between kinds.^[4][6] It also meant an interval.^[4][1]

Döderlein distinguishes it from intercapedo: intercapedo is a quiet, often kindly interruption of someone's business, interruptio a violent and turbulent one, while interpellatio and interlocutio interrupt only a speech.^[7] It is also used in Ecclesiastical Latin,^[8] and English borrowed interruption in the late 14th century.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it for the figure aposiopesis.^[3][4]
• 2nd half of the 2nd century AD – Festus uses it.^[5][3]
• 1st half of the 3rd century AD – The jurist Paul speaks of the interruption of usucapion.^[4][3]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it of a break in a wall.^[4][3]
• 1st half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius uses it for a division between kinds.^[4][3]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as interruption.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An interruption, discontinuance; a break.^[2][4][1]
2. (rhetoric) Aposiopesis, breaking off in the middle of a sentence.^[2][4]
3. An interval.^[4][1]
4. A division, distinction.^[4]

Related words

• English interruption

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com