Talk:intimus

the etymology of "radical of inter + -imus" seems to be constructed backwards. it is unknown to me that latin words have even been constructed out of a preposition or prefix and a suffix. the etymological explanation is missing the stem of a word. perhaps, the backwards construction was wrongly made to fit the german meaning of "intim" https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intim#German and the english word "intimate" https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intimate .

i propose an origin from the well known "timere" with the negating prefix "in-". german "intim" would be a radical of "intimere" and english "intimate" derived from the ppp (although "timere" has not got a ppp; maybe a later constuction) of "intimere".

the privacy and sexual aspect seem to me to be later redefinitions originating from "fearless"; and not to be part of the original meaning.