convertibilis

Forms

convertibilis (neuter convertibile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin convertō (“to turn around, change”) + -bilis.^[2][3] The TLL compares the variant conversibilis.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's earliest example is in Tertullian's treatise against Hermogenes, where matter is called changeable.^[2][3] Lewis & Short also cite Apuleius on Plato's doctrine, where some texts read conversibilis.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was a word of Christian writers, meaning what can be changed or turned.^[2][4] Prudentius pairs it with demutabilis, and Augustine has the adverb convertibiliter, changeably.^[4]

In medieval logic and philosophy it meant convertible or interchangeable, of terms and propositions that can stand in place of one another, and in natural philosophy and alchemy changeable or transformable.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian calls matter changeable.^[2][3]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius pairs it with demutabilis.^[4][3]
• 13th century – Albert the Great uses it in logic of convertible propositions.^[5][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Changeable, that can be turned or altered.^[2][4][1]
2. (Medieval Latin, logic) Convertible, interchangeable.^[5]

Usage notes

Lewis & Short note the variant reading conversibilis in Apuleius.^[4]

References

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