'sporadically-paused' originates from the combination of 'sporadic' and 'pause'. 'Sporadic' comes from the Medieval Latin 'sporadicus', meaning 'scattered', and 'pause' from the Greek 'pausis', meaning 'a stopping'.

'sporadicus' transformed into the English word 'sporadic', and 'pausis' became 'pause' in English. The modern term 'sporadically-paused' combines these two words to describe something that is stopped at irregular intervals.

Initially, 'sporadic' meant 'scattered' and 'pause' meant 'a stopping'. Together, they evolved to describe something that is stopped at irregular intervals.