Etymologically
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intolerans

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪnˈtɔ.ɫɛ.rãːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [inˈtɔː.le.rans][1]

Forms

intolerāns (genitive intolerantis, comparative intolerantior, superlative intolerantissimus); third-declension one-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + tolerāns (“enduring”), the negative of the present participle of tolerō (“to bear, endure”).[2][3][4] De Vaan lists ⟨tolerāre⟩ among the derivatives of tollō (“to lift”), and reports Nussbaum's proposal that it is a Latin present built on the root Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (“to carry”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Laevius,[3] whose curis intolerantibus, “with unbearable cares”, Gellius quotes as used for intolerandis.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Its usual sense is active, unable to endure, with a genitive of what is not endured.[2][3] Livy writes of the Gauls, a people least able to bear heat and dust, and of their bodies wholly unable to bear toil, and says that no one was less able to bear prosperity than Alexander.[2][3] Tacitus uses it of a man so proud that he could not bear his superiors, and of Claudius, unable to bear a single life.[2][7] The comparative and superlative appear from Livy on.[3]

In the passive sense, unbearable, it is found in Laevius and Tacitus, who says how much more unbearable slavery is for those defeated a second time, and Gellius has nothing more unworthy or more intolerable.[2][6] It passed into French as intolérant and into English, where Etymonline dates intolerant from 1735.[1][4]

Timeline

  • 2nd/1st century BC – Laevius uses it of unbearable cares.[3][8]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of Gauls unable to bear heat and toil.[2][8]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of unbearable slavery.[2][8]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of something intolerable.[2][8]
  • 1735 – English borrows intolerant.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (with genitive) Unable to endure, impatient (of hardship or of conditions).[2][6]
  2. Insufferable, unbearable.[2][7]

Word family

  • intolerantia
  • intolerō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de