detestabilis

Forms

dētestābilis (neuter dētestābile, comparative dētestābilior); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dētestor (“to curse, abhor”) + -bilis.^[2][1] dētestor is formed from dē- and testor (“to call to witness”), from testis (“witness”); de Vaan traces testis to Proto-Italic *tri-sto- and Proto-Indo-European *trito-sth₂-o- (“third standing by”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the OLD find it first in Cicero, who says in the Philippics that nothing is more detestable than disgrace.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Its usual sense is detestable, execrable or abominable: Cicero calls an omen detestable and says that nothing is so detestable and pestilent as pleasure.^[2][5] Livy uses it in the strict sense of what is subject to a solemn curse, of places where anything had been set up in a man's honour.^[2]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of disgrace and pleasure.^[2][5][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of accursed places.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Subject to a solemn curse, accursed.^[2]
2. Detestable, execrable, abominable.^[2][5][1]

Related words

• dētestor
• dētestātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press