Etymologically
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praestabilis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯sˈtaː.bɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [presˈtaː.bi.lis][1]

Forms

praestābilis (neuter praestābile, comparative praestābilior); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin praestō2 (“to excel”) + -bilis.[2][1][3] Wiktionary notes that its long ⟨ā⟩ shows it has no direct connection with stabilis.[1] praestō2 is a compound of prae- and stō (“to stand”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *sth₂-eh₁-ie/o- (“to stand”), with Italic cognates such as Oscan staít (“stands”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Terence has the first instance, in the Hecyra, with the comparative: how much better it would have been to live anywhere in the world than to come back here.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The TLL notes that the comparative is the usual form, in Terence, Cicero, Sallust, Pliny's Panegyric and Gellius, and that the positive is rare; outside Terence it is not found in verse.[3] Cicero uses it of things outstanding in greatness and of a father's eminent virtue.[6][2] Its second sense is of outstanding worth in someone's eyes, as in Terence's comparative.[2] Stelten glosses it “powerful, remarkable, preeminent” for Church Latin.[7]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence, in the comparative.[2][3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of outstanding things and virtue.[2][6][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius, of talent and speech.[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Outstanding, preeminent, excellent.[2][6][1][7]
  2. Of outstanding importance or worth;[2] (comparative) preferable, better.[2]

Word family

  • impraestabilis

Usage notes

The TLL gives a separate, rare praestabilis “kind, indulgent”, from praestō “to provide”, used of God in the Vulgate's Joel 2:13,[3] and Niermeyer glosses it “readily pardoning”.[8]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill