indispensabilis

Forms

indispensabilis (neuter indispensabile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in-² + dispensabilis.^[1][3] Etymonline traces the base to dispēnsō (“to distribute, administer”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Statutes of the Teutonic Order (1204–1264), in canon law: an irregularity that admits no dispensation.^[1][3]

Semantic evolution

It remained a term of church law for a law, vow or impediment that admits no dispensation and so binds without exception, and for an act that no dispensation can permit.^[1][2] William of Ockham speaks of natural law as indispensabile et immutabile.^[2] In the medieval Latin of Poland it describes divine law that not even the pope can set aside,^[5] and in the Czech lands it meant what cannot be left out.^[6] The Ecclesiastical Latin dictionary glosses it as indispensable.^[7]

English took it in the 1530s as “not subject to dispensation”; the sense “necessary” is English, from the 1690s.^[4]

Timeline

• 1204–1264 – The Statutes of the Teutonic Order use it of an irregularity.^[1][3]
• 1st half of the 14th century – William of Ockham uses it of natural law.^[2][3]
• 1530s – English borrows it as indispensable.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Medieval Latin, canon law) Admitting no dispensation, binding.^[1][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) Of an act: that cannot be permitted by dispensation.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) That cannot be left out, indispensable.^[6][7]

Related words

• English indispensable

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
2. ^ a b c d e f 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
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
6. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson