diff --git a/Lib/pathlib/_local.py b/Lib/pathlib/_local.py
index 674c98e1b3050ea..81705fc4e5e6799 100644
--- a/Lib/pathlib/_local.py
+++ b/Lib/pathlib/_local.py
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ def _parse_path(cls, path):
             elif len(drv_parts) == 6:
                 # e.g. //?/unc/server/share
                 root = sep
-        parsed = [sys.intern(str(x)) for x in rel.split(sep) if x and x != '.']
+        parsed = [x for x in rel.split(sep) if x and x != '.']
         return drv, root, parsed
 
     @property
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2024-08-26-18-48-13.gh-issue-119518.QFYH9q.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2024-08-26-18-48-13.gh-issue-119518.QFYH9q.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..819295f7306fa4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2024-08-26-18-48-13.gh-issue-119518.QFYH9q.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Speed up normalization of :class:`pathlib.PurePath` and
+:class:`~pathlib.Path` objects by not interning string parts.