acceptabilis

Forms

acceptābilis (neuter acceptābile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin acceptō (“to receive, accept”) + -bilis, an adjective of the later language.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian is its first author: in his work To the Nations he uses the comparative acceptābilior in the sense “more credible”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The TLL distinguishes two senses.^[2] The first, “credible, worth accepting”, appears in the Latin Irenaeus, Ambrosiaster and Augustine, who speaks of a more acceptable and more credible conjecture.^[2]

The second, “pleasing, welcome”, is above all the word for what is acceptable to God.^[2][3] The Itala uses it of an offering in Paul's letters, and the Vulgate of sacrifices, of the fast the Lord wants in Isaiah, of spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God in the First Letter of Peter, and of the tempus acceptābile in the Second Letter to the Corinthians.^[2] Lactantius and Augustine use it of victims acceptable to the gods.^[2] Niermeyer records both senses in medieval Latin.^[5] English acceptable comes from it, directly and through Old French.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses the comparative in the sense “more credible”.^[2][4]
• after 220 AD – The Itala uses it of an offering pleasing to God.^[2][4]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it of an acceptable victim.^[2][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it often of sacrifices and of the acceptable time.^[2][4]
• late 14th century – English acceptable is taken from it, directly and through Old French.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin) Credible, probable, worth accepting.^[2][5]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Pleasing, acceptable (especially to God).^[3][2][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) Welcome, agreeable.^[5]

Related words

• accipiō
• English acceptable

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson