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desiderabilis

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word desiderabilis

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin dēsīderō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin desidero
French désirer
Italian desiderare
Latin desiderabilis
From the same root
Latin desiderium ← desidero

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deː.siː.dɛˈraː.bɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [de.s̬i.deˈraː.bi.lis][1]

Forms

dēsīderābilis (neuter dēsīderābile); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēsīderō (“to long for, miss”) + -bilis.[2][3][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Cicero,[5][4] who in the Topica ranks desirable things above those that one can easily do without.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it rare.[3] Besides “desirable” it was used of the dead, meaning missed or regretted: Livy says of a ruler that he seemed to want his own vices to make people miss his grandfather, and Suetonius reports that an emperor chose such a successor so that he himself would one day be missed the more.[2][6][3] The comparative appears from Suetonius on; for the superlative Cassiodorus has dēsīderābilissimus and Sidonius Apollinaris maximē dēsīderābilis.[4]

The Vulgate calls the Promised Land the desirable land,[3] a phrase that Gildas took up.[7] Medieval British writers used it of welcome letters and persons, and in a sexual sense.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of desirable things.[3][4][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a ruler who is missed.[3][6][5]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius has the comparative.[4][6][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate calls the Promised Land terra dēsīderābilis.[3][5]
  • 1st third of the 8th century AD – Bede quotes a papal letter that calls the letters it answers welcome.[7][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Desirable, worth wishing for.[2][3][8]
  2. (of the dead) Missed, regretted.[2][6][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Welcome, acceptable.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d 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
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Desiderabilis.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/desiderabilis. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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