enarrabilis
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Pronunciation
Forms
ēnārrābilis (neuter ēnārrābile); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]
Etymology
It is from Latin ēnārrō (“to explain in detail”) + -bilis.[2][3][1]
Earliest recorded meaning
Virgil uses it first,[4][3] calling the work of a shield non enarrabile, “beyond description”.[5][3]
Semantic evolution
It means “that can be described or explained”, but it occurs only with a negative or with vix “hardly”.[2][3] Lewis & Short call it very rare and not before Augustus.[5] Seneca, Persius and Quintilian use it in this way;[3] the negative compound inēnārrābilis states the sense outright.[1]
Timeline
- 70–19 BC – Virgil calls the work of a shield indescribable.[5][3][4]
- 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it with vix.[3][6][4]
- 34–62 AD – Persius uses it with vix.[3][4]
- c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it.[5][3][4]
Meanings
Adjective
- That can be described, told or explained; almost always with a negative: nōn ēnārrābilis, indescribable.[2][5][3]
Word family
- inēnārrābilis
Related words
- English inenarrable
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn