Etymologically
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insufficiens

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Forms

īnsufficiēns (genitive īnsufficientis); third-declension one-termination adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + sufficiēns (“sufficient”),[3][4][5] the negative prefix with the present participle of sufficiō (“to be enough”).[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Tertullian's treatise against Hermogenes, which asks whether the divine power was “insufficient” to produce all things (nisi sī īnsufficiēns fuit dīvīna virtūs).[3][4][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short mark it as Late Latin.[4] The TLL divides its uses into persons, such as a ward judged unable to manage without curators, and things, such as thanks that fall short.[3] Medieval writers used it of persons unfit for a task, of inadequate things, of a defective argument or legal case, and of God in arguments about his omnipotence.[7][8] The adverb īnsufficienter appears in Ambrosiaster.[3] English insufficient, from the late 14th century, comes from Old French or directly from Latin, and was first used of persons.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian asks whether God's power was insufficient.[3][4][6]
  • 231 – A rescript in the Code of Justinian uses it of a ward who may need curators.[3]
  • 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it in medicine.[3][6]
  • 540–604 AD – Gregory the Great uses it in the Moralia on Job.[3][6]
  • late 14th century – English borrows it as insufficient.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Insufficient, inadequate, not enough.[4][1][3][9][10]
  2. (of persons) Unequal to a task, unfit, incapable.[3][8][7]
  3. (Medieval Latin, especially law) Of an argument or case: defective.[7]

Word family

  • insufficientia

References

  1. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  2. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c 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
  8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson