commendabilis

Forms

commendābilis (neuter commendābile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin commendō (“to entrust, recommend”) + -bilis.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Livy on,^[3][4] meaning worthy of praise or commendable, used on its own and with an ablative of the respect in which something deserves praise.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The word is rare and perhaps not earlier than Augustus, according to Lewis and Short.^[4] After Livy, Columella, Pliny the Elder and Valerius Maximus use it with an ablative, of a tree praised for its fruit or birds for their song.^[4] The comparative commendabilior appears from Tertullian on.^[3]

Medieval Latin used it widely of persons and things: acceptable, desirable, useful, honourable and fitting.^[5] British sources also have it in the sense of commendatory.^[6]

Timeline

• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it, the first author the TLL records.^[3][7]
• 1st century AD – Columella praises a plantation for its fruit with it.^[4][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a juice.^[4][7]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian has the comparative.^[3][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. To be commended, praiseworthy, notable, often with an ablative of respect.^[2][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) Acceptable, desirable; useful, fitting.^[5]
3. (Medieval Latin) Commendatory.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b 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
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de