Etymologically
Log in

intervallum

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word intervallum

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (vallum)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vallum
English wall
Latin intervallum

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪn.tɛrˈwal.lũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [in.terˈval.lum][1]

Forms

intervallum n (genitive intervallī); second declension[1] Vitruvius has the genitive plural intervallum.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin inter- (“between”) + vallum (“palisade, rampart”), first the space between the stakes of a palisade.[2][3][4] Varro, quoted by Cassiodorus, explained ⟨intervalla⟩ as the spaces between the heads of the stakes.[3] The origin of the noun for rampart is uncertain: de Vaan sets up, with a query, Proto-Italic *walso- and Proto-Indo-European *uh₂lso-, and finds Schrijver's link with Ancient Greek ἧλος (hêlos, “nail”) possible but not compelling.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Menaechmi: sed mī intervallum iam hōs diēs multōs fuit, “but I have had a break these many days”.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short give as its proper sense the open space within the rampart of a camp, between two palisades, a use the surveyor Hyginus describes.[4] In general use it is the distance between two things (Cato prescribes a gap of half a foot between beds), a width, and with ex intervallō “from a distance”; also a gap or interstice, and per intervalla “at intervals”.[2] Of time it is the period between two events, with ex intervallō “after a while”, and a break, respite or intermission; in speaking it is a pause (Rhetorica ad Herennium).[2] Cicero uses it for an interval of the musical scale in the Dream of Scipio, and Cato already for a difference in degree: between a morsel and grass there is a long intervallum.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “space, interval, intermission, break”.[6] English interval (early 14th century) came from Old French intervalle and directly from Late Latin.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a break.[2][8]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of a gap between beds and of a difference.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of intervals of time and of the musical scale.[2][8]
  • early 14th century – English borrows it as interval.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The space between the palisades of a camp.[4][1]
  2. A distance; width;[2][1] ex intervallō, from a distance.[2][1]
  3. A gap, interstice;[2] per intervalla, at intervals.[2]
  4. An interval of time;[2][1] ex intervallō, after a while.[2][1]
  5. A break, respite, intermission; a pause in speaking.[2][1][6]
  6. (music) An interval.[2][1]
  7. A difference (in degree or quality).[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Intervallum.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/intervallum. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·