accessibilis

Forms

accessibilis (neuter accessibile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin accēdō (“to approach”) + -bilis, formed on the participle stem ⟨access-⟩ of the verb;^[2][3] Wiktionary connects it with the noun accessus (“approach, entrance”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian is its first author: in Against Praxeas he writes of Christ seen at last through a light that is accessible, to be compared with the inaccessible light of the First Letter to Timothy.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense, “that can be entered”, is in Cassiodorus, who tells how the sanctuary of the main church became open to all once its doors were removed.^[2] More often it was figurative: Augustine says that the way Scripture speaks is accessible to everyone, though very few can penetrate it,^[2] Cassiodorus uses it of a clemency open to someone's deceits,^[2] and a Novel of Justinian of a consular dignity open to all good men.^[2]

Medieval Latin used it for “accessible, approachable” and also for “receptive”.^[5] Köbler records it in the capitularies.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of the light through which Christ was seen.^[2][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine calls the language of Scripture accessible to all.^[2][4]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it of a sanctuary opened to everyone.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin) That can be entered or reached; Accessible.^[2][3][1]
2. (Late Latin, figurative) Approachable, open (to someone or something).^[2][5][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) Receptive.^[5]

Word family

• accessibilitas
• inaccessibilis

Usage notes

Claudianus Mamertus has an adverb accessibiliter, but in the sense “accidentally”, opposed to substantiāliter.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 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