interpolation

Etymology

From French interpolation, from Latin interpolatio. Morphologically interpolate + -ion

noun

1. (music) An abrupt change in elements, with continuation of the first idea.
2. (mathematics, sciences) The process of estimating the value of a function at a point from its values at nearby points.
3. (computing) The process of including and processing externally-fetched data in a document or program; see interpolate.
4. (editing, content analysis) That which is introduced or inserted; in contexts of content analysis of centuries-old texts, especially something foreign or spurious.
   Today a widely established convention encloses all editorial interpolations in square brackets [like so] for clarity.
   Bentley wrote a letter […] upon the scriptural glosses in our present copies of Hesychius, which he considered interpolations from a later hand. 1830, Thomas De Quincey, Life of Richard Bentley
5. (music) The use of a melody from a previously recorded song, but recreated rather than sampled from that recording.
   The melody itself is an interpolation of “The Streets of Cairo,” an Orientalist Tin Pan Alley song originally published in 1895. 2015, Loren Kajikawa, Sounding Race in Rap Songs, page 147