placabilis

Forms

plācābilis (neuter plācābile, comparative plācābilior); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin plācō (“to appease”) + -bilis.^[2][3][1] De Vaan takes the verb as probably made from a noun, from Proto-Indo-European *pl(e)h₂/₃k- (“to agree, be pleasant”), with a cognate only in Tocharian A plāk- (“to agree”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Terence,^[4][5] in whose Adelphoe it is more conciliatory to clear oneself in person.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Terence it means fit to appease, conciliatory.^[2] More often it means easily appeased, quick to forgive:^[2][6] the Rhetorica ad Herennium blames a man who is placable to his enemies and implacable to his friends, and Ovid speaks of the anger of the gods that can be appeased by sacrifices.^[2] Cicero and Antony use the comparative, but no superlative is found.^[3][6] Seneca calls the thunderbolt that Jupiter sends alone peaceful in intent, unlike the destructive one he sends with other gods.^[2] In Church Latin it is "easily appeased",^[7] and in medieval Latin it also means propitiatory or expiatory.^[8]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence of a conciliatory step.^[2][4][5]
• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium of a man placable to enemies.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero in the comparative.^[3][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the anger of the gods.^[2]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of a peaceful thunderbolt.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Easily appeased, quick to forgive, placable.^[2][6][1][7]
2. Fit to appease, conciliatory; propitiatory.^[2][1]
3. (of omens) Peaceful in intent.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) Propitiatory, expiatory.^[8]

Word family

• implācābilis
• plācābilitās

Related words

• plācō
• placeō
• English placable

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill