explicabilis

Forms

explicābilis (neuter explicābile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin explicō (“to unfold, disentangle”) + -bilis.^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists the verb, found from Plautus on, among the compounds he files under plectō¹ (“to plait”);^[4] he takes the verbs ending in ⟨-plicāre⟩ to be denominal verbs to compound adjectives, from which the simple plicō (“to fold”) was formed afterwards.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pomponius Mela (43/44 AD)^[5] uses it of a labyrinth tangled in a great maze that can still be found out of: magno et explicabili tamen errore perplexus.^[3] The TLL also lists a passage in Seneca's letters, but the text there is corrupt.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From “that can be got out of” the word passed to things that can be set out in reasoning or words, that is, explained.^[3][6] Pliny the Elder uses it of a distance that can be stated by measurement,^[6][3] and Tertullian warns against narrowing a sense that admits of explanation.^[3]

Late writers used it more widely: in Cassiodorus it means what can be carried out, and debts that can be paid.^[3] Arnobius and Cassiodorus also have it in an active sense, of what explains or unfolds something.^[3] Köbler records it in Albertus Magnus and in Hrotsvit.^[5]

Timeline

• 43/44 AD – Pomponius Mela uses it of a maze from which one can find the way out.^[3][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a distance that can be measured.^[6][5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of a sense that can be explained.^[3][5]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it in the active sense.^[3][5]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it of what can be done and of debts that can be paid.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That can be unravelled or got out of.^[2][3]
2. That can be explained, explicable.^[6][3][1]
3. (Late Latin) That can be carried out; of debts, that can be paid.^[3]
4. (Late Latin) In an active sense, that explains or unfolds something.^[3]

Word family

• inexplicābilis

Related words

• English explicable

Usage notes

An adverb explicābiliter (“in an explicable manner”) is reported only by the grammarians Diomedes and Marius Plotius.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 g h i j k l m n o p Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press