internuncio
(ɪntəˈnʌnʃɪəʊ)
Also 7 -tio.
[ad. It. internunzio, in Florio internuntio ‘a messenger that goeth betweene man and man’; ad. L. internuntius (-nuncius): see next.]
1. A messenger between two parties.
| 1641 Milton Animadv. xiii. Wks. (1851) 243 They onely are the internuntios or the go-betweens of this trim devis'd mummery. a 1656 Ussher Ann. (1658) 428 Thoas..being sent from Rhodes by Dinon to Perseus as an internuncio. 1769 Burke Corr. (1844) I. 196 Townshend being a mutual friend, and having been..an internuncio between you. |
2. An official representative or ambassador of the Pope at a foreign court in an interval during which there is no nuncio, or at a minor court to which no nuncio is sent.
| 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals ii. iii. 204 The Abbot was declar'd Internuntio to Brussels. 1682 News fr. France 37 The Old resolute Pope sent a Courier to France to the Internuntio with a Bull of Excommunication. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4130/2 The Pope's Inter-Nuncio, who resides at Brussels, is lately come hither. 1892 J. Morris Cath. Eng. 21 The Internuncio at Brussels wrote to the Propaganda. |
3. A minister representing a government, esp. that of Austria, at the Ottoman Porte.
| 1700 Rycaut Hist. Turks III. 195 The Polish Inter-nuntio, who from the beginning of the War had been kept under restraint at Constantinople, was now upon exchange for a Turk of quality, again set at Liberty. 1815 Tweddell's Rem. 316 note, The Austrian minister residing at the Othman Porte, with the peculiar title of ‘Internuncio’. |
Hence interˈnuncioship, the office or function of an internuncio or go-between.
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) V. 6 Several billets passed between us..by the internuncioship of Dorcas. |