interseco

Forms

intersecō (present infinitive intersecāre, perfect active intersecuī, supine intersectum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin inter- + secō (“to cut”).^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vitruvius (c. 84–c. 25 BC) uses it of cutting bricks through.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Statius uses it for cutting off or interrupting.^[4][5] In Late Latin it described position: Ammianus Marcellinus writes of the Tiber “media intersecans moenia” (cutting through the middle of the walls) and of aqueducts cut off,^[7][4] Martianus Capella of the Nile cutting the land with many streams,^[7] and Macrobius of lines that cross the zodiac.^[4]

Medieval writers used it of lines and figures that intersect, of crossing a region and of interrupting;^[8] in Hungarian charters a stream cuts across boundary lines.^[9] Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini wrote in 1443 of a blush spreading over snow-white cheeks.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of cutting bricks through.^[4][5][11]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it for interrupting.^[4][5][11]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of a river cutting through a city.^[7][4][11]
• 5th century AD – Martianus Capella uses it of the Nile dividing the land.^[7][11]
• 1443 – Piccolomini uses it of a blush spreading over the cheeks.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cut through or between, to sever.^[2][4]
2. To cut off, interrupt.^[5][4]
3. (of rivers, lines) To divide, cross, intersect.^[7][4][8]
4. (New Latin) To spread over.^[10]

Word family

• intersectiō

Usage notes

Manuscripts confuse it with insecō¹ and its participle, and with interficiō.^[6]

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. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
10. ^ a b c Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
11. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de