amicabilis

Forms

amīcābilis (neuter amīcābile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin amīcus (“friend”) + -bilis.^[2][3][4] amīcus is from amō (“to love”).^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Firmicus Maternus' Mathesis, meaning “friendly”.^[2][4] Lewis and Short call it post-classical and rare.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline describes it as a word of Roman law;^[5] Köbler records it in Justinian's Novels.^[4] A Christian inscription praises a man as amicabilis ab omnibus notus, “known to all as friendly”.^[6] The adverb amīcābiliter “in a friendly manner” is also late.^[2][3]

In Medieval Latin it was common in charters and council records of friendly compacts and settlements, and of friendly persons.^[7] The MLW also records it in the senses kind, benevolent, voluntary and sociable, and in medical and natural-history texts in the sense wholesome or beneficial.^[8] Niermeyer glosses it “friendly, amicable”.^[9] English took it over in the early 15th century as amicable, first meaning “pleasant”.^[5]

Timeline

• 343/350 AD – Firmicus Maternus uses it for “friendly”.^[2][4]
• after 534 – It appears in Justinian's Novels.^[4]
• 825 – A council at Clovesho speaks of amicabilis amicitia, a friendly friendship.^[7]
• 1163 – A quarrel is reported settled amicabili fine, on friendly terms.^[7]
• 1191 – A charter records an amicabilis compositio, a friendly settlement.^[7]
• early 15th century – Borrowed into English as amicable.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin) friendly, amicable.^[2][3][9]
2. (Medieval Latin) (of compacts, settlements) Reached on friendly terms.^[7]
3. (Medieval Latin) Kind, benevolent; voluntary.^[8]
4. (Medieval Latin, medicine) wholesome, beneficial.^[8]

Word family

• amīcābiliter

Related words

• amīcus
• amīcālis
• amō
• English amicable

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
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 d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill