audibilis

Forms

audībilis (neuter audībile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin audiō (“to hear”) + -bilis, with the suffix of possibility.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a Late Latin word, first found in Ambrose, who contrasts what sight sees with what hearing hears: auditus audibile audit (“hearing hears the audible”).^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Augustine uses it in De magistro, setting things that can be heard beside things that can be seen;^[3] Boethius has it in his translation of Aristotle's Topics.^[3] Medieval writers used it for what can be heard, for what belongs to hearing, for what sounds well, and as an adverb for loudly and clearly.^[5] From the Late Latin word come Italian udibile^[6] and English audible (1520s), from French and directly from Medieval Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it of what the hearing perceives.^[2][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it beside visibilis in De magistro.^[2][6]
• 1520s – English audible is formed from French and Medieval Latin.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That can be heard, audible.^[2][3][8]
2. (Medieval Latin) Relating to hearing.^[5]
3. (Medieval Latin) Well-sounding, melodious.^[5]

Word family

• inaudibilis

Usage notes

Augustine defends the new word: if significabilia (“things that can signify”) has been admitted, he asks, why not audibilia too.^[2] The grammarian Priscian lists it as the derivative of audiō and notes that its antepenultimate syllable is short.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.