Etymology of Interficio

[CMatthiasT88]

Interficio is a word that I'm seeing often in the Vulgate, and its most often translated simply as "kill". However combining the two words literally, inter- "between, among" and facere "to make, do", yields perhaps "to make amidst". How would you say that this combination has developed the meaning of to kill or destroy?

 

[Laurentius]

I wonder if it originally meant to stab, to push inside. Just an hypothesis.

 

[Pacifica]

I don't think so. Inter- as a prefix seems to have been somehow associated with destruction in some cases; cf. intereo.

 

[AoM]

On the wiktionary page, I saw that they reference this article. This small bit on the first page is the only place he comes close to talking about the etymology:

"Obviously interficio was a euphemism (cf. 'do away with')..."

 

[Laurentius]

Or perhaps it could refer to the practice of inhumation, another hypothesis I'm making.
Reading about the etymology now, I am also made aware of the very last definition given to inter on L&S:
c. Under, down, to the bottom; as, interire, interficere.

 

[Notascooby]

I always thought of it as a euphemism " I make among(the dead)"

 

[kizolk]

c. Under, down, to the bottom; as, interire, interficere.

Interestingly, here's what Wiktionary has to say about "under":

From Middle English under, from Old English under, from Proto-Germanic *under (whence also German unter, Dutch onder, Danish and Norwegian under), from a merger of Proto-Indo-European *n̥dʰér (“under”) and *n̥tér (“inside”). Akin to Old High German untar (“under”), Sanskrit अन्तर् (antar, “within”), Latin infrā (“below, beneath”) and inter (“between, among”).

 

[Pacifica]

I never knew it was a merger.

 

[Laurentius]

Interestingly, here's what Wiktionary has to say about "under":

From Middle English under, from Old English under, from Proto-Germanic *under (whence also German unter, Dutch onder, Danish and Norwegian under), from a merger of Proto-Indo-European *n̥dʰér (“under”) and *n̥tér (“inside”). Akin to Old High German untar (“under”), Sanskrit अन्तर् (antar, “within”), Latin infrā (“below, beneath”) and inter (“between, among”).

Yes, where I was reading about it they were also saying it is a cognate with unter. Some other was proposing a meaning similar to take down but that sounds way too Yankee I think.

 

[CMatthiasT88]

Here are a few snippets I found from: An Etymological Dictionary of the Latin Language by Francis Valpy.

 

[CMatthiasT88]

Perhaps I've cited Valpy prematurely. I had read Laurentius's hypothesis and dismissed it quickly as lacking. Perhaps there is something to it. But what is meant by "merger"?

 

[Pacifica]

It means that the two PIE words/roots mentioned here below were merged into one.

a merger of Proto-Indo-European *n̥dʰér (“under”) and *n̥tér (“inside”).

 

[Pacifica]

If we consider the second of them (meaning "inside"), we could compare interficio to "do in" as in "that did me in". But that's probably an excessive mapping of Latin to English.

The thing is, it's hard to tell exactly how the inter- prefix came to have this meaning of destruction in some cases, but it did.

 

[CMatthiasT88]

Ok, I get it. But this theory of Laurentius still seems weak, I wonder if there is more support to be found which would connect inter- and under. Are there standard works for Latin Etymology?

 

[Pacifica]

But this theory of Laurentius still seems weak

It seems unlikely to me as well.

 

[Avunculus H]

Ok, I get it. But this theory of Laurentius still seems weak, I wonder if there is more support to be found which would connect inter- and under. Are there standard works for Latin Etymology?

The merger happened in Germanic, not in Latin. The Germanic word can mean both "under" and "between" (in different Germanic languages and at differnt times). So English under is related to Latin inter, but the meaning "under" is only Germanic.
The current standard work for Latin Etymology is de Vaan's Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages.
According to him (s.v. inter) inter goes back to PIE *h1(e)nter, while PIE *ndhero- is continued by inferus, infra, etc. (s.v. inferus).

 

[CMatthiasT88]

Thank you Avunculus. However I think that would I prefer Valpy over that.

 

[Avunculus H]

Where do they disagree?

 

[CMatthiasT88]

I don't know if they would agree or disagree, because there is no specific entry for interficio in de Vaan, only inter-.

 

[Avunculus H]

Maybe I misunderstood your use of "prefer", but to me it sounded like you disbelieved de Vaan in his treatment of inter-.