Etymologically
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laudabilis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɫau̯ˈdaː.bɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [lau̯ˈdaː.bi.lis][1]

Forms

laudābilis (neuter laudābile, adverb laudābiliter); third-declension two-termination adjective[1] Inscriptions also have laudavilis.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin laudō (“to praise”) + -bilis.[1][2] The verb is from laus (“praise”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *lau(V)d-; the only connection proposed is with the Germanic word for song, as Old English lēoþ (“song”) and Old Norse ljóð (“song, strophe”), if it is cognate at all.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium,[4] which defines the praiseworthy as what earns honourable mention now and later.[5]

Semantic evolution

It means praiseworthy or laudable, as Cicero's virtue that is praiseworthy in itself;[6][5] Lewis & Short call it classical and frequent.[6][5] The TLL notes the comparative from Cicero on.[2] Of materials and goods it means of good quality, valuable or excellent, as Pliny the Elder's summer honey, the most highly praised.[6] Church Latin glosses it worthy of praise, glorious, valuable, excellent.[7] In medieval Latin it served as an honorific epithet and meant of the required standard.[8]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium defines the praiseworthy.[5][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of virtue praiseworthy in itself.[6][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the best honey.[6][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Praiseworthy, laudable.[6][5][7][1]
  2. Of materials and goods, of good quality, valuable, excellent.[6][7]
  3. (Medieval Latin) As an honorific epithet; of the required standard.[8]

Word family

  • illaudābilis
  • laudabilitas
  • perlaudabilis
  • superlaudābilis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill