Etymograph

English

intercessor

Intercessor comes from Latin intercessor ‘mediator, intercessor’, and goes back to intercēdō.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEintercēdō1‘to intervene’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEintercessor1‘mediator, intercessor’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1894intercessor1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English intercessor
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1894, James George Frazer: “Kings were revered, in many cases not merely as…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEintercēdōWiktionary, English intercessor‘to intervene’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEintercessorWiktionary, English intercessor‘mediator, intercessor’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1894intercessorWiktionary, English intercessor. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1894, James George Frazer: “Kings were revered, in many cases not merely as…”

A compound of inter ‘between’ + cēdō ‘to go’

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’

Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér ‘between’

Proto-Italic *n̥ter ‘between’

Latin inter ‘between’

Every English word from Latin intercēdō

Today it means

noun A mediator, one who reconciles enemies or pleads for another.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “intercessor”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin intercēdō / intercessor

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