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culpabilis

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word culpabilis

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 125–175 AD, Apuleius
Ultimate origin
Latin culpa
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin culpa
Italian colpa
Latin culpo
Latin culpabilis
French coupable
From the same root
Italian colpevole ← colpa

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kʊɫˈpaː.bɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kulˈpaː.bi.lis][1]

Forms

culpābilis (neuter culpābile, comparative culpabilius, adverb culpābiliter); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin culpō (“to blame”) + -bilis,[2] the verb from culpa (“fault, blame”).[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Apuleius on;[4] in the Apology he contrasts what is blameworthy with what is praiseworthy.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a post-classical word for what deserves censure.[2][5] Arnobius applies it to an opinion about the gods, and Tertullian has the comparative, culpabilius “more blameworthy”;[5] Cassiodorus and later writers construe it with a genitive of the fault.[4] The adverb is culpabiliter.[5][1]

Medieval Latin added “guilty” and “liable to such and such a penalty”,[6] and it is frequent in the barbarian law codes and capitularies.[7] English borrowed it in the late 13th century, through Old French, as coupable, later culpable.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it in the Apology.[5][4][7]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses the comparative.[5][7]
  • 3rd quarter of the 8th century – The Lex Salica uses it.[7]
  • late 13th century – English borrows it from Old French.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Deserving censure, blameworthy, reprehensible.[2][5][9]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Guilty.[6][9]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Liable to a given penalty.[6]

Word family

  • inculpābilis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson

Descendants

Cite this entry

“Culpabilis.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/culpabilis. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·