Etymologically
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indagabilis

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Forms

indāgābilis (neuter indāgābile); third-declension two-termination adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin indāgō1 (“to track down, investigate”) + -bilis.[1][3][2] The reverse sense “not to be found” of some medieval texts arose by confusion with the negative prefix in-2.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro uses it in his work on the Latin language with a legal sense, “liable to investigation”: a candidate who canvasses the people improperly is to stand trial for electoral malpractice.[1][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Later writers used it actively, “investigating”: a geometrical work under the name of Boethius speaks of examining the heavenly machine by investigating reason,[3][2][6] Cassiodorus uses the same phrase of the soul searching out the causes of created things and of astronomy, and Isidore of Seville takes it over from him.[3][7] Roger Bacon still has it in this sense.[8]

In German sources of the 13th century it means the opposite: Arnold of Lübeck tells of a treasure chamber walled up and painted over so that it seemed impossible to find, and other texts speak of the inscrutable wisdom of God.[4][9]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a candidate liable to investigation.[1][3][9]
  • c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus writes of investigating reason.[3][2][9]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville takes the phrase over from Cassiodorus.[3][7][9]
  • c. 1210 – Arnold of Lübeck uses it in the reverse sense, “not to be found”.[4][9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (law) Liable to investigation.[1][5]
  2. (Late Latin) Investigating, inquiring.[7][2][6][3][8]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Not to be found; inscrutable.[4][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b 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
  9. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de