insuperabilis

Pronunciation

• Classical: [ĩː.sʊ.pɛˈraː.bɪ.lɪs]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [in.su.peˈraː.bi.lis]^[1]

Forms

īnsuperābilis (neuter īnsuperābile, adverb īnsuperābiliter); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + superābilis (“surmountable”).^[2][1][3] The TLL derives it from the transitive superō (“to overcome”),^[4] which de Vaan lists among the derivatives of super (“above”); that goes back to Proto-Italic *super(i) (“above”) and Proto-Indo-European *(h1)uper(i) (“over, above”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Virgil on,^[4] and the OLD's first example is in the Aeneid, genus insuperabile bello, “a race unconquerable in war”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It means that cannot be defeated, unconquerable, as in Virgil and in Ovid's caput insuperabile bello.^[2][7] Livy uses it in the transferred sense, that cannot be crossed or overcome, of the passage of the Alps and of a road.^[2][7][8] Pliny the Younger has an illness that cannot be cured, Ovid a fate that cannot be avoided, and Gellius a certain inescapable necessity of fate.^[7][8][6] Seneca uses it for what cannot be surpassed: the boundless and unsurpassable good, where the will must stop.^[2][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means insurmountable or unconquerable,^[9] and British medieval writers use it for invincible and unsurpassable, as when Alcuin calls a preacher an unsurpassable teacher.^[10] English insuperable comes from it, directly or through Old French.^[11]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil calls a people unconquerable in war.^[2][12]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the impassable Alps.^[7][12]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a fate that cannot be avoided.^[7][6][12]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it for a good that cannot be surpassed.^[2][12]
• mid-14th century – English takes insuperable from Old French or from Latin.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That cannot be defeated, unconquerable, invincible.^[2][7]
2. That cannot be crossed or overcome, insurmountable;^[2][7][8] (of illness) incurable;^[2][7][8] (of fate) unavoidable.^[2][7][8]
3. That cannot be surpassed, unsurpassable.^[2][10]

Related words

• superō
• inexsuperābilis
• English insuperable

Usage notes

A gloss insuperabilis “not remaining” is taken by the TLL as a separate word, from the intransitive superāre “to be left over”.^[4]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de