Etymograph

English

intervention

Intervention comes from Latin interventiō ‘guarantee, caution’, and goes back to interveniō ‘to intervene, come between’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinterveniō1‘to intervene, come between’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinterventiō2‘guarantee, caution’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600intervention2
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1988intervention2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin interventio
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English intervention
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1988, Thomas Stephen Szasz, The Myth of Psychotherapy: “As I showed, although some rhetoricians, such as Mesmer…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinterveniōWiktionary, Latin interventio‘to intervene, come between’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinterventiōWiktionary, English intervention‘guarantee, caution’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600interventionWiktionary, English intervention
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1988interventionWiktionary, English intervention. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1988, Thomas Stephen Szasz, The Myth of Psychotherapy: “As I showed, although some rhetoricians, such as Mesmer…”

Every English word from Latin interveniō

Today it means

noun The action of intervening; interfering in some course of events.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “intervention”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin interventio. 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 interveniō / intervention

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