interval English · revision 39680

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1325, Cursor Mundi|origins=la intervallum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈɪntəvəl/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈɪntɚvəl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|intervalle]], early also [[m|enm|enterwal]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) [[bor|fro|entreval|t=interval, interim]], later ''intervalle'',^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(ODE 2010) and in part directly [[bor|la|intervallum]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) The OED explains that the earliest English example reflects the French form ''entreval'', while the 14th–16th century ''intervalle'' was taken anew from French.^(OED 2026) The Latin word is formed from [[m|la|inter|t=between]] and [[m|la|vallum|t=rampart, palisade]],^(OED 2026)^(AHD 2024)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Skeat 1911) and originally meant the space between two palisades or ramparts;^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Ayto 2005) Skeat explains it as the space between the rampart of a camp and the soldiers' tents.^(Skeat 1911) Etymonline takes ''vallum'' as a collective form of [[m|la|vallus|t=stake]], the source of English [[wall]].^(Etymonline)^(Ayto 2005)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Barnhart finds the noun before 1325, in the ''Cursor Mundi'',^(Barnhart 1988) and Etymonline dates the sense "time between two actions or events" to the early 14th century.^(Etymonline) The OED's first example of the period of time between two events, or between parts of an action or performance, is from Chaucer's ''Tale of Melibee'' (c1386).^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Ayto notes that the shift from a space between ramparts to a gap in time had already begun in classical Latin.^(Ayto 2005) English used the word for time first and for space later: an open space or gap between two things is recorded from 1489, in Caxton,^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) and Hoad likewise dates the spatial sense to the 15th century.^(Hoad 1986) Johnson (1755) gave "space between places; interstice" as the first sense.^(Johnson 1755) The musical sense, the difference in pitch between two notes, appears in 1609, in John Dowland's translation of Ornithoparchus,^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) and the phrase ''at intervals'', now and again, from 1588.^(OED 2026) Later specialised senses include a range between two numbers in mathematics (1838; a set of numbers between two limits from 1902),^(OED 2026) and a quantity measuring the separation of events in space-time in relativity physics (1918, Eddington).^(OED 2026) In North America ''interval'' was also used for low land along a river (1684), a form of ''intervale''.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) In Scotland the interval was the time between the hours of public worship on a Sunday.^(Wright 1898) In British English it is the usual word for a break between the parts of a play or concert, where Americans say ''intermission''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024) A rare verb ''interval'' is recorded from 1630.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1325 – the noun, in the ''Cursor Mundi''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c1386 – the time between two events.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1489 – an open space between two things.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1588 – ''at intervals'', now and again.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1609 – music, the difference of pitch between two notes.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1630 – verb, to come between.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1684 – North America, low land along a river.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1838 – mathematics, a range between numbers.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1918 – physics, separation of two events in space-time.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A period of time between two events, actions or states: ''There was a long interval between the two letters.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # A space or distance between two points or objects: ''trees planted at regular intervals''.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # ''(chiefly British)'' A short break between the parts of a play, concert or film; an [[intermission]].^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # ''(music)'' The difference in [[pitch]] between two notes.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' The set of all numbers lying between two given numbers.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[intervalic]]

+ * [[intervallic]]

+ * [[intervalometer]]

+ * [[compound interval]]

+ * [[confidence interval]]

+ * [[contour interval]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[wall]]

+ * [[intervale]]

+ * [[intermission]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}