Etymology and origin of the Latin word lamentabilis
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 81–43 BC Cicero More words from the 1st century BC
- Ultimate origin
- Latin lāmentor
Etymology tree
From the same root
Forms
lāmentābilis (neuter lāmentābile); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]
Etymology
It is from Latin lāmentor (“to lament”) + -bilis.[2][1]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is found from Cicero on,[3] meaning accompanied by lamentation: in the Laws he cites the report that funerals had become costly and full of wailing.[2]
Semantic evolution
From the start it had two sides: “mournful, expressing grief”, as of a voice that bewails a misfortune in the Tusculan Disputations,[2][4] and “deplorable, calling for lament”, as of the kingdom of Troy in the Aeneid.[2][4] Ovid and Ammianus Marcellinus have the second sense too.[5]
In medieval British Latin it meant expressing grief, as of a song of mourning in Aldhelm, and also deserving lament.[6] English took it over around 1400 as lamentable, first in the sense “sorrowful”.[7]
Timeline
- 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of costly, wailing funerals and of a lamenting voice.[2][8]
- 70–19 BC – Virgil calls the kingdom of Troy lamentable.[2][4]
- 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it of a song of mourning.[6][8]
- c. 1400 – English borrows it as lamentable.[7]
Meanings
Adjective
- Accompanied by lamentation; mournful, doleful.[2][4]
- Deserving or causing lament; deplorable, lamentable.[2][4]
Word family
- ēlāmentābilis
Related words
- lamentum
- English lamentable
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ 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
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Borrowed into
- English lamentable
Cite this entry
“Lamentabilis.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/lamentabilis. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.
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