legibilis

Forms

legibilis, -is, -e; third-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin legō² (“to read”) + -bilis.^[1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its only Classical record is in Ulpian, quoted in the Digest, on writings in a will that were deleted carelessly although they could still be read.^[1][2][5]

Semantic evolution

It was a rare post-Classical word.^[2] The grammarian Priscian cites it among the adjectives in -bilis that take a dative, and it appears in the glossaries.^[3][4]

Medieval Latin used it widely of script that can be read,^[6][7] as when a council of 1295 orders documents to be written in an open, legible hand; it could also mean “fit to be read”, of a book, and in the universities a diēs legibilis was a day set for lectures.^[7] It is the source of Italian leggibile^[8] and of English legible, from the late 14th century.^[9]

Timeline

• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of writing that can still be read.^[1][5]
• 6th century AD – Priscian cites it in his grammar.^[3][5]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as legible.^[9]
• 1295 – An English church council requires a legible hand.^[7]
• 1438 – A Canterbury register uses the diēs legibilēs, the lecture days of the term.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Legible, that can be read.^[1][2][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) Fit to be read (of a book).^[7]
3. (Medieval Latin, universities) Set for lectures (of a day).^[7]

Related words

• legō
• English legible

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f 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
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com