From Latin interpretari (to explain), built on interpres (agent, middleman), 'interpret' may trace to commercial negotiation — the first interpreters were possibly market traders standing between buyer and seller.
To explain the meaning of something; to translate orally from one language into another.
From Old French interpreter, from Latin interpretari (to explain, to translate), from interpres (agent, translator, negotiator, genitive interpretis). The etymology of interpres itself is debated: the most widely accepted analysis connects inter- (between) with a second element possibly related to pretium (price) or an earlier root meaning 'to spread' or 'to traffic.' If the pretium connection is correct, an interpres was originally a middleman in commercial transactions — someone who stood between buyer
The Latin interpres may have originally meant 'price negotiator' — someone who stood between (inter-) parties discussing price (pretium). If true, the world's oldest translators were not literary scholars but market traders, and the entire tradition of interpretation grew from haggling over goods. This commercial origin survives in the phrase