Etymologically
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intervallum

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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