invalidus

Forms

invalidus (feminine invalida, neuter invalidum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from the negative prefix in- (“not”) and validus (“strong”).^[2][3] The adjective belongs with valeō (“to be strong”), which de Vaan derives from Proto-Italic *wal-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂ulh₁-eh₁- (“to be strong”), cognate with Old Irish flaith (“rule, sovereignty”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest quotation is Virgil, of a foal still weak and trembling;^[2] Köbler gives Livy.^[3] Lewis and Short note that it is not in Cicero or Caesar.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is weak, feeble or infirm, of people and animals, as Livy's Camillus, too weak with age for bodily duties, and of physical powers, as Ovid's weak strength;^[2][5] Tacitus adds a moral weakness, of women by nature weak.^[2][5] Of things it is lacking strength, as Lucan's weak ship and feeble flames, and in war weak in numbers, as Livy's not weak garrison.^[2] Figuratively it is powerless or ineffectual.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “weak, invalid”,^[6] and in medieval Latin it is legally void or invalid.^[7] English invalid, “infirm”, is from it in the 1640s.^[8]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a weak foal.^[2][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a man weak with age and of a garrison not weak.^[2][5][3]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of moral weakness.^[2][3]
• 1640s – English invalid.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Weak, feeble, infirm.^[2][5][1][6]
2. Of things, lacking strength; of fire, dim.^[2]
3. Weak in military strength.^[2]
4. Powerless, ineffectual.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) Void, invalid.^[7]

Related words

• validus
• valeō
• īnfirmus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com