Etymologically
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imbecillitas

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Forms

imbēcillitās f (genitive imbēcillitātis); third declension[1] It is also spelled inb-.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin imbēcillus (“weak, feeble”) + -tās.[2][4] De Vaan finds no etymology for ⟨imbēcillus⟩: the old explanation “without a walking stick”, after a scholion on Juvenal, makes little sense, and Ernout and Meillet's ⟨*imbeccillus⟩ is far-fetched.[5][1] Etymonline reports the traditional derivation from in- (“not”) and baculum (“stick”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is the comic poet Afranius;[7] the OLD's earliest example is the Rhetorica ad Herennium.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is bodily weakness, especially from illness: Cicero writes that his daughter's illness and weakness are killing him.[2][3] It is used of weak faculties such as sight, and of fragile things, as Cicero's undecked Rhodian ships.[2] It is also weakness of mind or character, and powerlessness, the inability to defend oneself, as Cicero's weakness of the country towns; it was regarded as typical of women and of the young.[2]

English imbecility (early 15th century) at first meant physical weakness.[6]

Timeline

  • 2nd half of the 2nd century BC – Afranius.[7]
  • 86/82 BC – the Rhetorica ad Herennium of bodily weakness.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of illness, weak ships and weak towns.[2][7]
  • early 15th century – English imbecility.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Physical weakness, feebleness; weakness from illness; weakness of the senses.[2][3][1]
  2. Weakness of materials, fragility.[2]
  3. Moral or intellectual weakness.[2]
  4. Powerlessness, helplessness.[2][1]

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts ⟨validus⟩, strong and able to act, with imbēcillus, its opposite.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper