The Meanwhile : timelines of simultaneity

also mean while, late 14c., "mean time, the interval between one specified period and another," from (adj.2) "middle, intermediate" + (n.). From late 14c. as an adverb, "during or in a certain period of time." Properly two words as a noun but commonly written as one, after the adverb.

"occupying a middle or intermediate place;" mid-14c., of persons, "of middle rank" (but this is possibly from, or mixed with, (adj.1)); from Anglo-French meines (plural), Old French meien, variant of moiien "mid-, medium, common, middle-class" (12c., Modern French moyen), from Late Latin medianus "of the middle," from Latin medius "in the middle" (from PIE root *- "middle").

From late 14c. as "in a middle state, between two extremes." Meaning "intermediate in time, coming between two events or points in time" is from mid-15c. (the sense in , ). The mathematical sense "intermediate in a number of greater or lesser values, quantities, or amounts" is from late 14c.

Old English hwile, accusative of hwil "a space of time," from Proto-Germanic *hwilo (source also of Old Saxon hwil, Old Frisian hwile, Old High German hwila, German Weile, Gothic hveila"space of time, while"), originally "rest" (compare Old Norse hvila "bed," hvild "rest"), from PIE *kwi-lo-, suffixed form of root *- "to rest, be quiet." Notion of "period of rest" became in Germanic "period of time."

Now largely superseded by except in formulaic constructions (such as all the while). Middle English sense of "short space of time spent in doing something" now only preserved in and phrases such as worth (one's) while. As a conjunction, "during or in the time that; as long as" (late Old English), it represents Old English þa hwile þe, literally "the while that." Form whiles is recorded from early 13c.; whilst is from late 14c., with unetymological -st as in amongst, . Service while-you-wait is attested from 1911.

Ann Lauterbach writes poems and prose essays at the intersection of temporal

imagination, art and ethics. Her eleventh collection, Door (2023) was a finalist for the

international Griffin Prize. Her 2009 collection, Or to Begin Again was a finalist for the

National Book Award. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim and a MacArthur

Fellowships. Her work has been translated into French, Spanish and German. She was

co-chair of Writing in the Bard MFA from 1992-2020 and is currently Schwab Professor

of Languages and Literature (Written Arts) at Bard College. Her essays were collected

in The Night Sky: Writing on the Poetics of Experience and her lecture The Given & The

Chosen was published by Omnidawn Press. A new collection of essays is forthcoming

from Siglio Press. Lauterbach was born and grew up in New York City.

The Meanwhile received a grant from the .

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