Etymologically
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evitabilis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [eː.wiːˈtaː.bɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [e.viˈtaː.bi.lis][1]

Forms

ēvītābilis (neuter ēvītābile); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ēvītō (“to avoid”) + -bilis.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Ovid's Metamorphoses, of a weapon that is “not avoidable” (non ēvītābile tēlum).[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Seneca uses it in the Natural Questions of evils that can be avoided, as opposed to inevitabilia,[4] and Augustine has it too.[3] English has evitable from it, probably revived in modern use as a back-formation from inevitable.[5]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid speaks of a weapon that cannot be avoided.[3][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca contrasts avoidable and unavoidable evils.[4][6]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of enemies.[3][6]
  • c. 1500 – Borrowed into English as evitable.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Avoidable, that can be shunned.[2][4][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de