Etymologically
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inexorabilis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪ.nɛk.soːˈraː.bɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [i.neɡ.zoˈraː.bi.lis][1]

Forms

inexōrābilis (neuter inexōrābile); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + exōrābilis (“that can be moved by entreaty”).[2][1][3] That adjective comes from exōrō (“to prevail upon”), from ex- and ōrō (“to plead, pray”);[4][5] de Vaan takes the verb as derived from ōs (“mouth”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Terence,[6] in whose Phormio someone is said to be of a hard and inexorable nature.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is said of persons who cannot be moved by entreaty, relentless, with in, adversus or contrā: Cicero speaks of himself as having seemed inexorable towards others.[2][7] A late gloss explains it as one bent by no prayers, and Cicero names it beside truculentus and implācābilis.[3] Valerius Flaccus uses it of what cannot be obtained by entreaty.[2] Church Latin keeps the sense inexorable.[8] English inexorable (1550s) came through French and directly from Latin.[4]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence of a hard nature.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero.[7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy.[7]
  • 1550s – English inexorable.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. That cannot be moved by entreaty, inexorable, relentless.[2][7][1][8]
  2. That cannot be obtained by entreaty.[2]

Word family

  • inexorabilitas

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson