explanatorius

Forms

explānātōrius (feminine explānātōria, neuter explānātōrium); first and second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin explānō (“to make plain, explain”) + -tōrius.^[2][1] The verb explānō is derived from plānus¹ (“level, flat”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *pl(e)h₂-nó- (“flattened”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a Late Latin word,^[1] found in the 5th-century physician Caelius Aurelianus, who cites the second book of explanations of Hippocrates' Aphorisms by Asclepiades (secundo libro explanatorio).^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The TLL records it only in this passage, of a book that comments on and explains another text.^[2] English took explanatory from or on the model of the Late Latin word in the 1610s.^[5]

Timeline

• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus speaks of an explanatory book on Hippocrates.^[2][4]
• 1610s – English forms explanatory from or after the Late Latin word.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin) Explanatory, serving as a commentary.^[1][2]

Related words

• English explanatory

References

1. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com