Etymologically
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abominabilis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [a.boː.mɪˈnaː.bɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [a.bo.miˈnaː.bi.lis][1]

Forms

abōminābilis (neuter abōminābile); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin abōminor (“to deprecate as an ill omen, detest”) + -bilis, an adjective of the late period made from the verb.[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first sure use is in the Itala, the Old Latin Bible: in the Book of Revelation the unbelievers and the abōminābilēs have their part in the burning lake, where the Vulgate has exsecrātīs.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

It stayed mostly a word of Christian writers and of the Bible.[4][2] Lactantius calls a tyrant abominable,[4] Hilary of Poitiers calls certain solemn feasts abominable,[4] and the Vulgate uses it often for what is unclean or hateful before God, as the winged creatures that go on four feet in Leviticus.[4][2] Lewis & Short also cite it from the declamations ascribed to Quintilian.[2] The TLL records the comparative magis abōminābilis but found no superlative.[4]

In medieval Latin it meant “accursed”.[5] Stelten glosses it “detestable, hateful, worthy of destruction”.[6] English abominable comes from it, directly and through Old French.[7]

Timeline

  • after 220 AD – The Itala uses it in the Book of Revelation.[4][3]
  • c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius speaks of an abominable tyrant.[4][3]
  • c. 315–367/368 AD – Hilary of Poitiers calls certain feasts abominable.[4][3]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of unclean and hateful things.[4][3]
  • mid-14th century – English abominable is taken from it, directly and through Old French.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (Late Latin) Detestable, abominable, hateful.[2][4][6]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Hateful to God; unclean.[4][6]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Accursed.[5]

Usage notes

Manuscripts often spell it abhōminābilis, for example in the scholia on Horace.[4][5] Etymonline explains the common Middle English form abhominable as a folk etymology, as if from ab homine “away from man”.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com