Etymologically
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honorabilis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [hɔ.noːˈraː.bɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [o.noˈraː.bi.lis][1]

Forms

honōrābilis (neuter honōrābile, comparative honōrābilior); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin honōrō (“to honour”) + -ābilis.[2][1] The verb comes from honor (“honour”).[3][4] Isidore of Seville explained it as ⟨quasi honore habilis⟩ “as if fit for honour”.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it once in Cicero, who says of old age that the marks of respect that seem trivial and common, salūtārī, appetī, dēcēdī, assurgī (being greeted, sought out, made way for, risen for), are honōrābilia, things that confer honour.[6][7][2]

Semantic evolution

After Cicero it reappears only with Tertullian and the Old Latin Bible.[6] At first it meant “conferring honour”, as in Cicero;[2][6] in Christian Latin it came to mean “worthy of honour, respected”, the sense of the Vulgate's honōrābilior omnium “the most honoured of all”.[7][6] Jerome complains that critics blamed him for writing cārissimum “dearest” where honōrābilem was expected, which shows it had become a word of polite address.[6]

In Medieval Latin it is a common epithet of people of rank, of clergy and saints, and a title in letters and charters,[8][9][10] and in British sources also means “handsome” of a person's look.[9] English honorable comes from it through Old French in the mid-14th century, and became an epithet before the names of officials around 1400.[3]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of things that confer honour on the old.[6][7][4]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate calls a man honōrābilior omnium.[7][6][4]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of persōnae honōrābilēs.[7][4]
  • 1st third of the 8th century AD – Bede calls a priest honoured by the princes of the world.[9][8][4]
  • mid-14th century – English borrows honorable through Old French.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Conferring honour, honorific.[2][7]
  2. (Late Latin) honourable, worthy of honour, respected.[7][11][10]
  3. (Medieval Latin) As a title of address: honourable, venerable.[9][8]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Handsome, of fine appearance.[9]

Word family

  • inhonōrābilis

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ a b c d e 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
  10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson