placibilis

Forms

placibilis (neuter placibile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1][2] Medieval Iberian charters spell it placivilis, plaivilis and plabilis.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin placeō (“to please”) + -bilis.^[4][5][6] The TLL lists Romance outcomes such as Italian piacevole and Spanish apacible,^[4] and Conte also derives the Italian word from Late Latin ⟨placibilis⟩.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is post-classical:^[1] the first author to use it is Tertullian, in On the Resurrection of the Flesh, where it means “pleasing, acceptable”.^[1][2][5]

Semantic evolution

The Old Latin Bible (the Itala) has it at Romans 12.1 for what is acceptable to God.^[7] In medieval Latin it kept the sense “pleasing, agreeable”;^[8] Anastasius the Librarian writes “take whatever is pleasing to you”, rendering a Greek word of Theophanes.^[9]

In charters, above all in the Iberian peninsula, it described a price or settlement fixed so as to satisfy the parties, “agreed”;^[3][8] Niermeyer also records the sense “current, in circulation”.^[8][6] Humanists still used it: Boccaccio writes in a letter of 1373 that he could wish for nothing more pleasing (placibilius).^[10]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for what is pleasing or acceptable.^[1][6]
• 1005 – A charter of the cathedral of León spells it plaivilis.^[3]
• 1017 – A charter spells it placivilis.^[3]
• 1373 – Boccaccio uses the comparative placibilius in a letter.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. pleasing, agreeable, acceptable.^[1][2][8]
2. (Medieval Latin) Agreed, fixed to the satisfaction of the parties (of a price or settlement).^[8][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) current, in circulation.^[8][6]

Usage notes

Manuscripts often confuse it with placābilis “easily appeased”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d e Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
10. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de