comestibilis

Forms

comēstibilis (neuter comēstibile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin comedō + -bilis, “that can be eaten”.^[1][2] It is built on the participle ⟨comēstum⟩, a variant of the regular ⟨comēsum⟩ of comedō (“to eat up”).^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its only ancient witness is Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636 AD), who speaks of a tree bearing edible fruit.^[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

French formed comestible from it in the 14th century;^[3] English had the adjective “fit to eat” before it fell out of use in the 17th century, and took the word again from French in 1837 as a noun for an article of food.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville uses it of fruit.^[4][2][5]
• 14th century – French has comestible.^[3]
• 1837 – English borrows the French noun comestible.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin) Edible, eatable.^[4][2][1]

Related words

• comedō
• English comestible

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de