faciliter

Forms

faciliter (comparative facilius, superlative facilissimē)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin facilis (“easy”) + -ter, formed beside the usual adverb facile.^[2][3][4] Georges calls it an archaic word that later became a word of popular speech.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vitruvius is its first author and uses it constantly, as in his remark that iron heated right through is easily worked, ferrum percalefactum faciliter fabricātur.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The grammarians argued about it.^[5][3] Quintilian names faciliter among the forms that he is willing to leave to the followers of strict analogy,^[5][2] and Lewis & Short call it censured by him.^[6] Later grammarians accepted it: Cledonius says that facile and difficile can form the adverbs faciliter and difficulter,^[5] and Martianus Capella asks why, if we say habilis and habiliter, we should not say facilis and faciliter.^[5][3] Outside Vitruvius the TLL finds it once each in a declamation against Catiline, in Augustine and in Claudianus Mamertus.^[5]

Medieval writers used it freely for “easily”:^[8][9][10] Osbern of Gloucester lists it among the derivatives of faciō, and Duns Scotus says that a habit lets one act with delight, easily, quickly and readily.^[8] Hungarian charters also use it for “readily, willingly”, of a king who readily admits the just petitions of his subjects.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of iron that is easily worked.^[5][6][7]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian cites it as a form of the analogists.^[5][2][7]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it in the Confessions.^[5][3][7]
• 5th century AD – Martianus Capella defends it by analogy with habiliter.^[5][3][7]
• 1251 – A Hungarian charter uses it for “readily”.^[9]
• 1272 – A Hungarian charter uses it for “easily”, of things that slip away with time.^[9]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Easily, without trouble; the same as facile.^[2][6][4][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) Quickly; readily, willingly.^[9][10]

Related words

• facilis
• facul
• faculter
• difficulter

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
10. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl