probable

Forms

probable m or f (masculine and feminine plural probables)^[1] Older texts often write provable or prouable.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin probabilis (“commendable; plausible”).^[4][1][5] Corominas notes that its proper sense was “worthy of approval”.^[6] The Latin adjective is formed from probō (“to approve, prove”) with the suffix -bilis.^[7][1] The verb is derived from probus (“excellent, good”), which goes back to a compound Proto-Indo-European *pro-bʰH-wós (“being in front”), of *pro- (“forward”) and *bʰuH- (“to be”).^[1][8]

The inherited verb of the same family is probar.^[6] The same learned word is Portuguese provável, Catalan probable, French probable and Italian probabile.^{[9][10][11][1]} Nascentes counts the Portuguese form semi-learned.^[9] French had it from 1285, at first as proubable.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates it 1495, from Nebrija.^[6] The CDH and the DEMel have it much earlier, in the Vidal Mayor (c. 1250): todas las cosas son enfortidas por ygoaleza prouable de razón “all things are made stronger by a reasonable equity”.^[2][12] In Nebrija it means “that can be proved”: provable, cosa que se prueva.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The 14th-century texts of Juan Fernández de Heredia and Ferrer Sayol's Libro de Palladio (1380–1385) use it for a reason or claim that is credible and fitting.^[2] A 1571 text from Mexico still glosses it as a thing that can be proved by witnesses.^[13] Autoridades defined it as “likely, founded on prudent reason”, with “that can be proved or argued” as a second sense.^[14] Terreros explained the opiniones probables of the schools and the moralists, opinions neither clearly true nor clearly false; the moral doctrine built on them is probabilismo.^[15][5]

The Academy's 1884 dictionary added the sense now most common, of what there is good reason to expect.^[16][4] Moliner notes that the sense “provable” is little used because it can be confused with this one.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – first record, in the Vidal Mayor.^[2][12]
• 1384 – the earliest dated text in the Old Spanish Textual Archive, Fernández de Heredia's Historia troyana.^[18][2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: provable, a thing that can be proved, Latin probabilis.^[3][6]
• 1571 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[13]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades gives “likely” and “provable”.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy adds “that is expected to happen” and the etymology from Latin probabilis.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Plausible, likely; founded on sound reasoning.^[4][1]
2. That can be proved; provable.^[4][1][17]
3. Of a thing: such that there are good reasons to believe it will happen; probable: Es probable que mañana nieve en la sierra.^[4][17]

Word family

• probablemente

Related words

• probabilidad
• probar
• probo
• prueba
• Latin probabilis

Usage notes

Es probable que takes the subjunctive, while the adverb probablemente behaves like tal vez or quizás and allows both moods.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. probable
3. ^ a b c Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. probable
4. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. probable
5. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 618
6. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. probar
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. provável
10. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. probable
11. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. probable
13. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. probable
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 387
15. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 216
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 866
17. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. probable
18. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. probable
19. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. probable