inexcusabilis

Forms

inexcūsābilis (neuter inexcūsābile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + excūsābilis (“excusable”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Horace's Epistles, where it is said of a person who would have no excuse if he held back.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

L&S counts it as poetic and post-classical.^[3] Ovid uses it of a time that could not be put forward as an excuse,^[2] and in the jurists it describes burdens from which no exemption could be claimed.^[2][3]

In Christian and Medieval Latin it chiefly means “unpardonable”, of persons and of deeds.^[4][5][6] Medieval writers also used it for what could not be declined or avoided, an inescapable obligation.^[7][6]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a person who has no excuse.^[2][8]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a time that could not serve as an excuse.^[2][8]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian, quoted in the Digest, uses it of burdens from which no one may be excused.^[2][8]
• 2nd half of the 11th century–1109 – Anselm of Canterbury warns that whoever refuses love will be without excuse at God's judgement.^[5][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a person: who cannot be excused, without excuse.^[2][3]
2. Of a thing: that cannot be pleaded as an excuse.^[2]
3. Of burdens or duties: from which no exemption may be claimed; that cannot be refused.^[2][3]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Inexcusable, unpardonable.^[4][5]
5. (Medieval Latin) That cannot be declined, inescapable.^[7][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b c 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
6. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de