Etymologically

intolerandus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 22:21. This address is a permanent link to this version.

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪn.tɔ.ɫɛˈran.dʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [in.to.leˈran.dus][1]

Forms

intolerandus (feminine intoleranda, neuter intolerandum); first/second-declension adjective[1] The Vulgate and Orosius have the spelling intollerandus.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + tolerandus (“to be endured”), the negative prefix with the gerundive of tolerō (“to bear, endure”).[3][1][2] De Vaan lists tolerō and intolerandus under tollō (“to lift”), which he traces to Proto-Indo-European *tl-n(e)-h₂- (“to carry”), with the aorist *tel-h₂-, and compares Ancient Greek ἔτλην (étlēn, “endured”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus;[4][5][3] Köbler's first author is Pacuvius, who speaks of unbearable anxiety.[4][5][3]

Semantic evolution

It describes what cannot be endured physically, as the unbearable cold in Hirtius and Livy, and what cannot be tolerated, as Cicero's intolerable tyrant and intolerable licence.[3][6] Lewis & Short call it classical.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[4][5]
  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of unbearable anxiety.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of an intolerable tyrant.[6][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Hirtius of unbearable cold.[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Physically unendurable, insupportable.[3][6][1]
  2. That cannot be tolerated, intolerable, unbearable, insufferable.[3][6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press