Etymologically
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inhabilis

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 13:24. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪˈna.bɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iˈnaː.bi.lis][1]

Forms

inhabilis (neuter inhabile); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + habilis (“manageable, fit”).[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Livy on, perhaps already in Cicero, and not in the poets.[3] Livy says the light troops' javelin was hard for the unskilled to throw back.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It means hard to handle, manoeuvre or use, unwieldy: Livy has a ship of almost unmanageable size, and Curtius the unwieldy bulk of elephants.[2][5] Seneca uses it of a task not easily dealt with, and the declamations ascribed to Quintilian of a person clumsy in manners.[2] It also means ill-suited to a purpose, unfit, as when Livy says a crowd would be unfit for agreement.[2] Church Latin uses it of the incapable or unable.[6]

Timeline

  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of an unwieldy javelin and ship.[2][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of a task.[2]
  • 1st century AD – Curtius of elephants.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Hard to handle or use, unwieldy, unmanageable; of a person, clumsy.[2][5][1]
  2. Ill-suited, unfit, incapable.[2][1][6]

Usage notes

Köbler has a separate inhabilis from habitāre, in Tertullian.[4] The comparative is perhaps only in an inscription.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson