immutabilis

Forms

immūtābilis (neuter immūtābile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + mūtābilis (“changeable”).^[2][3][1] The verb mūtō (“to change”) goes back, with mūtuus, to a stem Proto-Italic *moito-, perhaps Proto-Indo-European *h₂moi-to- (“(object of) change”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] who speaks of eternal and unchangeable causes in On Fate.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It means unchangeable, unalterable, a rare but classical word:^[3] Cicero uses it of causes, of an eternal and unchangeable thing in the Republic, and of what cannot turn from true to false.^[3] In Church Latin it is "immutable".^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of unchangeable causes.^[3][5]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus has the comparative of the rare second word.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Unchangeable, unalterable, immutable.^[2][3][1][6]

Word family

• immūtābilitās

Related words

• mūtābilis
• mūtō

Usage notes

The OLD and Lewis & Short record a rare second immūtābilis, made from immūtō “to change”, that apparently means "changed" or "liable to change": Plautus uses it of altered dress, and Cassiodorus has the comparative.^[2][3][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson