flebilis

Forms

flēbilis (neuter flēbile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from fleō (“to weep”) with the suffix -bilis.^[2][3][1] Priscian derived it from the future ⟨flēbō⟩, to explain the long ⟨ē⟩.^[3] De Vaan traces ⟨fleō⟩ to Proto-Italic *flē- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to bleat, cry”), cognate with Latvian blêt (“to bleat”) and Old English blǣtan (“to bleat”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Accius and Lucilius;^[3] Köbler gives Lucilius.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is worthy of tears or lamentable, as Cicero's “that wretched and lamentable sight”, and causing tears, as the scorpion's sting in Cicero's Aratea.^[2][6] It is accompanied by tears or expressive of sorrow, as Cicero's “O sorrowful vigils, O bitter nights!”, and of voices and music plaintive; the neuter is used as an adverb, as Ovid's shut-out lover who sings mournfully.^[2][1] Of people it is tearful or weeping, as Horace's weeping bride.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “sad, sorrowing, weeping, wretched”,^[7] and medieval Latin “weeping, plaintive”.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a lamentable sight and of sorrowful vigils.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of a weeping bride.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a mournful song.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Worthy of tears, lamentable.^[2][6][1][7]
2. Causing tears.^[2]
3. Mournful, plaintive, doleful;^[2][1][8] (neuter as adverb) mournfully.^[2][1][8]
4. (of people) Tearful, weeping.^[2][1][7]

Related words

• fleō
• flētus
• lacrimābilis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill