incomparabilis

Forms

incomparābilis (neuter incomparābile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] Inscriptions also spell it inconparabilis and incoparabilis.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in- + comparābilis.^[3][2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder (23/24–79 AD)^[4] uses it in the seventh book of the Natural History of a loftiness (sublimitas) beyond compare.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Quintilian applies it to a teacher (magister).^[5][7] It was frequent in epitaphs, praising a husband, wife or foster child, often in the superlative incomparabilissimus.^[5][7][2] The spelling incomp- is found in an inscription of AD 187.^[2] Ambrose has the comparative incomparabilior,^[5][6] and Augustine the adverb incomparabiliter.^[5]

It remained in Church Latin^[8] and in medieval writers and charters.^[4] English incomparable (early 15th century) comes from Old French or directly from the Latin.^[9]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it in the Natural History.^[5][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian calls a teacher incomparable.^[5][4]
• 187 AD – An inscription has the spelling incomparabilis.^[2]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses the comparative.^[5][4]
• early 15th century – English incomparable appears, from Old French or Latin.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Beyond comparison, unequalled, matchless, incomparable.^[3][5][7]

Related words

• comparō²

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com