Etymologically
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inexpugnabilis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪ.nɛk.spʊŋˈnaː.bɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [i.nek.spuɲˈɲaː.bi.lis][1]

Forms

inexpugnābilis (neuter inexpugnābile); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + expugnābilis (“that can be taken by storm”).[2][3][1] The TLL takes it as modelled on words such as Ancient Greek ἄμαχος (ámakhos, “unconquerable”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Cicero and Livy on.[3] Cicero calls a man unconquerable in the Tusculan Disputations.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Of towns and fortifications it means impregnable:[2][4] Livy has an impregnable citadel and towns, and says that no place is proof against Roman courage.[2][4] Velleius Paterculus uses it of Dalmatian peoples almost unassailable in their mountains.[2] Of things it means proof against force: Ovid has a weed that cannot be rooted out, and Pliny the Elder ground that cannot be penetrated.[2][4] Figuratively it is unconquerable, as Valerius Maximus' unshakeable constancy of Caesar, or proof against persuasion, as in the Octavia.[2]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of an unconquerable man.[4][3][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of an impregnable citadel.[2][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a weed.[2]
  • c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius Paterculus of mountain peoples.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. That cannot be taken by storm, impregnable; unassailable.[2][4][1]
  2. Proof against force, indestructible; impenetrable.[2][4]
  3. Unconquerable, unshakeable; proof against persuasion.[2][4][1]

References

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