intellegibilis

Forms

intellegibilis (neuter intellegibile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] Manuscripts often spell it intelligibilis.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin intellegō (“to understand”) + -bilis.^[4][5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Seneca (4 BC–65 AD) is the first to use it, contrasting the good grasped by the mind with the good perceived by the senses.^[4][6][5]

Semantic evolution

In Seneca and Apuleius it is a term of philosophy, what can be grasped by the mind rather than by the senses.^[4] Chalcidius uses it in his commentary on Plato's Timaeus,^[2][7] Ammianus and Augustine have it in the sense “understandable”,^[6] and Boethius forms a comparative.^[2][7] Macrobius, oddly, uses it for what is perceptible to the senses.^[6][7]

In medieval Latin it meant understandable, of speech also clear and articulate, conceivable or convincing, and in philosophy what can be grasped by the intellect alone.^[8] English borrowed it in the late 14th century as intelligible.^[9]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca opposes the good grasped by the mind to the good of the senses.^[4][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius calls one of Plato's natures thinkable and intelligible.^[4][5]
• c. 300 AD – Chalcidius uses it in his commentary on the Timaeus.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as intelligible.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (philosophy) That can be grasped by the mind, intellectual, as opposed to sensible.^[4][6]
2. Understandable, comprehensible.^[6][7][3]
3. Perceptible to the senses (Macrobius).^[6][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) Of speech: clear, articulate; also conceivable, convincing.^[8]

Word family

• inintelligibilis

Related words

• intellegō
• English intelligible

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
4. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com