Etymologically
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placabilis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɫaːˈkaː.bɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [plaˈkaː.bi.lis][1]

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

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