Etymologically
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desiderabilis

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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