irascibilis

Forms

īrāscibilis (neuter īrāscibile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin īrāscor + -bilis,^[2][1][3] the verb being formed from īra “anger”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Jerome and Rufinus, and notes that the passages of Firmicus Maternus quoted for it by lexicographers belong to an interpolated version of his text.^[2] Conte cites it from Jerome's commentary on Matthew,^[5] and Köbler dates its first record to Jerome.^[6] There it means easily angered, irascible.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it described people prone to anger or choleric by temperament.^[3][7] In medieval philosophy it became a technical term for the part or faculty of the soul that strives against obstacles, the vis irascibilis or potentia irascibilis, usually set beside the concupiscible faculty;^[8][9][10] Thomas Aquinas uses it this way throughout his works.^[9] Used as a noun, the neuter or masculine stood for this faculty itself.^[10]

Medieval texts also used it actively, of words or acts that provoke anger: Du Cange quotes a French letter of remission of 1357 that speaks of verba irascibilia in a quarrel.^[11] English borrowed the word in the late 14th century, through Old French and directly from Late Latin.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it for a person easily angered.^[2][6]
• 1357 – A French letter of remission speaks of words that provoke anger as irascibilia.^[11]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as irascible.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Easily angered, irascible, hot-tempered.^[3][7][12]
2. (Medieval Latin, philosophy) Belonging to the irascible faculty of the soul, as opposed to the concupiscible.^[8][9]
3. (Medieval Latin) Provoking anger or quarrels.^[11][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
10. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
12. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
13. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl