inaccessus

Forms

inaccessus (feminine inaccessa, neuter inaccessum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + accessus (“approached”),^[2][1] the participle of accēdō (“to approach”) with the negative prefix.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Virgil,^[3] who in the Aeneid uses it of a grove that cannot be entered and of a cave untouched by the sun's rays.^[4]

Semantic evolution

L&S call it poetic and post-Augustan:^[4] Pliny the Elder has mountains and a sea made unapproachable by rocks, Tacitus the inaccessible summit of the Rhaetian Alps, and Tacitus also uses the neuter plural as a noun for inaccessible places.^[4][5] Figuratively it meant unattainable or without rival: Apuleius speaks of a beauty no one could approach, and Macrobius of Pindar as a poet that Horace admits cannot be imitated.^[2][4]

Medieval writers used it of remote countries and fortresses;^[6] Bede says that Britain was inaccessible and unknown to the Romans.^[6]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a grove and a cave in the Aeneid.^[4][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of mountains and a sea.^[4][3]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius applies it to unrivalled beauty.^[2][3]
• Middle Ages – Bede calls Britain inaccessible to the Romans.^[6]
• c. 1434 – A noun inaccessus for inaccessibility is recorded in British sources.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That cannot or may not be approached, inaccessible.^[2][4]
2. (figurative) Unattainable; not approached by any rival, unrivalled.^[2][4][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d 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