insatiable

Forms

insatiable (plural insatiables)^[1] Middle French insaciable; the spelling insatiable is found from 1529.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin īnsatiābilis (“that cannot be satisfied”).^[4][3][5][6] The Latin adjective is formed with the negative prefix in- on satiō (“to satisfy, fill”), itself from satis (“enough”).^[3][7][2] Littré analyses it as the prefix and satiābilis (“that can be satisfied”).^[8] Wiktionary instead treats it as inherited from Old French insaciable.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1310 in Aimé du Mont-Cassin's Ystoire de li Normant, in avarice insaciable “insatiable greed”: from the start it described a desire that is never satisfied.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective kept the sense of its Latin source, applied both to abstract cravings such as greed or ambition and to physical hunger and thirst.^[3][2] It was used as a noun for an insatiable person by 1483.^[3] In the 16th century it was common in authors such as Amyot, Montaigne and Brantôme, who called a mind or soldiers insatiable.^[8]

The adverb insatiablement dates from 1450 and is literary.^[4][3] The noun insatiabilité, borrowed from Late Latin īnsatiābilitās in the 1540s, replaced Middle French insatiableté (1576) but stayed learned and rare.^[3][5]

Timeline

• c. 1310 – Avarice insaciable in Aimé du Mont-Cassin's Ystoire de li Normant.^[4][3]
• 1450 – First record of the adverb insaciablement.^[4][3]
• 1483 – Used as a noun for an insatiable person.^[3]
• 1529 – The spelling insatiable appears, in Bonivard.^[2]
• 1544 – Insatiabilité is borrowed from Late Latin.^[3]
• 1694 – The Académie records the adverb insatiablement.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That cannot be sated or filled (of hunger, thirst, or a person or animal that eats or drinks without end).^[9][4]
2. (figurative) Never satisfied, always wanting more: insatiable de pouvoir.^[9][2][8]

Word family

• insatiablement
• insatiabilité

Related words

• satiété
• assez
• rassasier
• Latin īnsatiābilis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 709a
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert