indocilis

Forms

indocilis (neuter indocile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + docilis (“teachable”).^[2][1][3] docilis belongs to doceō (“to teach”),^[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *dok-eje- and Proto-Indo-European *doḱ-ei̯e/o- (“to have someone accept something”).^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek δοκεῖ (dokeî, “it seems”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first quotation is from Cato, of a most worthless and unteachable race, nequissimum et indocile genus.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means hard to instruct, unteachable or stubborn: Cicero says some people are too unteachable and slow, and Quintilian speaks of dull and unteachable men.^[2][5] Pliny the Elder uses it of swallows.^[5] Of a subject it is impossible to teach by precept, as when Cicero says that Lucullus' great talent did not need the training of experience, which cannot be taught.^[2] It also means uninstructed, untaught or ignorant, as in Virgil's untaught race that was gathered and given laws.^[2] Silius uses it poetically with a genitive, indocilis pācis, not knowing peace.^[5]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato, of an unteachable race.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of slow learners.^[5][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil, of an untaught race.^[2][6]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, of dull men.^[5][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Hard to instruct, unteachable, stubborn, indocile.^[2][5][1]
2. Of a subject: impossible to teach.^[2]
3. Untaught, uninstructed, ignorant.^[2][1]

Word family

• indocilitās

Related words

• docilis
• doceō
• indoctus

Usage notes

Servius distinguishes indocilis, one who cannot learn at all, from indoctus, one who has not yet learned;^[3] Isidore repeats the distinction.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de