amenable

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French amenable, the Anglo-Norman form, also amesnable, a legal term meaning tractable (13th century or earlier) and answerable to a law or court (before 1321),^[2][3][4] from the Anglo-Norman verb amener (“to lead or take somewhere; to summon before a court”), also amesner,^[2][5][6] with the suffix -able.^[2][6] The verb is formed from a- (“to”), from Latin ad (“to”), and mener (“to lead”),^[5][7][8] from Late Latin minō (“to drive animals with shouts”),^{[5][9][4][10]} from Latin minor (“to threaten”),^[5][11][9] from minae (“threats”).^[11][12] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace it further to Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to project”).^[5][11] Weekley thought the change of sense in the Latin verb came from cattle-driving.^[13] Johnson explained that in the French courts amener quelqu'un meant to oblige a person to appear and answer a charge.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Answerable to the law: 1596, in Spenser's A View of the Present State of Ireland,^[9][7] in the form amesnable ("Not amesnable to Law").^[4][2] The OED dates the quotation before 1599.^[2] Etymonline gives "liable to make answer, accountable" in the 1590s.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, of a person answerable to a court or law, was the first in English;^[2][4][8] Johnson (1755) still defined the word only as "responsible; subject so as to be liable to enquiries or accounts", with a quotation from Sir John Davies on Ireland.^[14] From 1765 it was also said of things subject to a legal authority.^[2] From before 1781 it was used more generally of what is liable to a charge or claim.^[2] The sense "inclined to be influenced, tractable", which was already Anglo-Norman,^[3][2] is recorded in English from 1680 by the OED,^[2] though Etymonline dates it to 1803, explaining it as "disposed to answer or submit to influence".^[5] From 1817, in Coleridge, it meant responsive to treatment or capable of being tested.^[2] From 1915 a place could be amenable, congenial or hospitable.^[2] Blount (1691) recorded a spelling amainable, which he connected with French main, hand, and applied in law books to a woman supposed governable by her husband.^[2]

Timeline

• 1596 – answerable to the law, in Spenser, as amesnable.^[9][7] The OED dates it before 1599.^[2]
• 1680 – susceptible to persuasion, tractable.^[2]
• 1765 – of a thing, subject to the legal authority of a body.^[2]
• before 1781 – liable or open to a charge or claim.^[2]
• 1817 – responsive to treatment; capable of being tested, in Coleridge.^[2]
• 1915 – of a place, congenial, comfortable.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Willing to agree to or go along with something; open to suggestion, tractable: The committee proved amenable to a later start date.^[7][15][2]
2. Capable of being treated, tested or dealt with in a particular way: a question amenable to experiment.^[15][2][4]
3. Answerable to a law or authority; accountable.^[15][2][4]
4. Of a thing, subject to a legal authority, or liable to a charge or claim.^[2][4]

Word family

• amenability
• amenably
• nonamenable
• unamenable

Related words

• menace
• minatory
• amenity

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins