inhibitorius

Forms

inhibitōrius (feminine inhibitōria, neuter inhibitōrium); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin inhibeō (“to hold back, restrain, forbid”), an adjective formed in Medieval Latin on the stem of its past participle ⟨inhibitus⟩.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DMLBS's earliest example concerns the events of 1226 as Roger of Wendover tells them: the French king would not go to war unless the pope had first sent the English king litterae inhibitoriae, letters forbidding him, under pain of excommunication, to trouble the French king.^[3] Köbler dates the word to about 1250.^[1]

Semantic evolution

It was mainly a legal and administrative word, used of letters, writs or mandates that forbid an action;^[3][4][5] in the medieval Latin of Hungary and Poland it describes letters that stop or suspend a lawsuit,^[6][7] and inhibitoria alone (with littera understood) became a noun for such a letter.^[8][6]

It stayed in use in Neo-Latin: a letter of 1620 to Axel Oxenstierna mentions a mandatum inhibitorium obtained by the citizens of Hamburg.^[8] English took it over as inhibitory in the late 15th century.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – Köbler's earliest date for the word.^[1]
• 1282 – A British record mentions a littera inhibitoria of the official of Canterbury.^[3]
• 1297 – A Hungarian record speaks of letters inhibitoriae made out by way of protest.^[6]
• late 15th century – Borrowed into English as inhibitory.^[2]
• 1620 – A letter to Oxenstierna names a mandatum inhibitorium.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Medieval Latin) Containing a prohibition, inhibitory; especially of letters or writs that forbid an action.^[3][4][5]
2. (Medieval Latin, law) Of letters ordering a lawsuit to be stopped or suspended.^[7][6]
3. (New Latin) Hindering, preventing.^[8]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) inhibitoria (feminine, with littera understood): a letter of inhibition.^[8][6]

Related words

• inhibeō
• English inhibitory

References

1. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e 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
4. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
7. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
8. ^ a b c d e Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de