inexplicabilis

Forms

inexplicābilis (neuter inexplicābile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + explicābilis (“that can be unfolded or explained”).^[2][1][3] That adjective belongs to explicō (“to unfold”), a compound of the verb plicō (“to fold”); de Vaan takes the verbs in ⟨-plicāre⟩ as denominal formations that go back to Proto-Italic *-plek-ā- and Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to plait, twine”), and thinks the simple plicō was made afterwards from the compounds.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Cicero onwards and notes that poetry does not use it.^[3][5] Cicero writes to Atticus o rem difficilem et inexplicabilem! atqui explicanda est, “what a difficult and inextricable business! Yet it must be unravelled”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short note that the classical writers use it only figuratively.^[6] Its literal sense, that cannot be unravelled, is in Curtius' knot that would make whoever untied it master of Asia and in Quintilian's figurative snares; of places it means labyrinthine, as in Pliny the Elder's description of a labyrinth, and Livy uses it of roads made impassable by continuous rain.^[2] Of a problem it means insoluble or baffling, of a dispute endless, and of a disease, in Pliny the Younger, incurable.^[2][7] Pliny the Elder also uses it of what cannot be put into words: a countless multitude.^[2][6] In Tacitus' Annals the OLD and Lewis and Short read bellum inexplicabile, an endless war, while the TLL takes the form there as a corruption of inexpiābilis.^[2][6][3] Medieval British writers use it of questions that cannot be solved, and of what cannot be uttered, both of inexpressible joy and of unspeakable suffering.^[8] It is the source of Italian inesplicabile.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero calls an affair difficult and inextricable.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of roads made impassable by rain.^[2][5]
• 1st century AD – Curtius uses it of the knot whose untier would rule Asia.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a labyrinth and of an innumerable multitude.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That cannot be unravelled, inextricable; of places, labyrinthine; of roads, impassable.^[2][6]
2. Of a problem, that cannot be solved, baffling; of a dispute, endless; of a disease, incurable.^[2][7]
3. Involved, complex.^[2]
4. That cannot be put into words, inexpressible, inexplicable; countless.^[2][6][8]

Related words

• explicō
• explicābilis

Usage notes

The adverb inexplicābiliter, “inextricably”, is post-classical, in Apuleius and Augustine.^[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 k l m n 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. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
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. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier