intersum

Forms

intersum (present infinitive interesse, perfect active interfuī, future active participle interfutūrus); irregular conjugation, suppletive, no passive, no supine stem except in the future active participle, no gerund^[1] Terence and Lucilius have the subjunctive intersiet.^[2] It is found in tmesis, as interque esse in Arnobius.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin inter- + sum (“to be”), “to be between”.^[2][3][4][1] De Vaan traces sum to Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has trīduom nōn interest aetātis uter māior siet, “there are not three days' difference in age between them”.^[2] Cato says utī testēs nōn interessent, “so that there would be no witnesses present”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Interesse is “to lie between” in space and “to elapse” between in time;^[2][3][1] “to be present” as an onlooker, “to take part in”, and “to be among, be a member of”.^[2][3][1] It also means “to be different, differ” and, with the difference as subject, “to make a difference”.^[2] The impersonal interest is “it matters, it is important”, with the genitive of the person concerned.^[2][3][1]

Döderlein contrasts adesse, to be near, with interesse, to take part in a transaction.^[6] Church Latin glosses it “be present, attend, take part in, differ”, and impersonally “it concerns, interests”.^[7] English interest (mid-15th century) comes, through Old French, from the noun use of interest.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: trīduom nōn interest aetātis.^[2][9]
• 234–149 BC – Cato: utī testēs nōn interessent.^[2][9]
• 190–159 BC – Terence: hoc pater ac dominus interest, “this is the difference between a father and a master”.^[2][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: quid cuiusque intersit, “what is in each man's interest”.^[2][9]
• mid-15th century – English interest.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lie between; to elapse between.^[2][3][1]
2. To be present, attend; to take part (in).^[2][3][1][7]
3. To be among, be a member (of).^[2]
4. To differ, be different.^[2][1][7]
5. To make a difference.^[2][1]
6. (impersonal) It matters, it concerns, it is of advantage.^[2][3][1][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de