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remedialis

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word remedialis

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
400s Macrobius, Saturnalia More words from the 4th century
Ultimate origin
Latin remedium
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin medeor
Latin remedium
English remedy
Latin remediālis
English remedial
From the same root
Latin medicus ← medeor
Latin meditor ← medeor
Latin remediō ← remedium

Forms

remediālis (neuter remediāle); third-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin remedium (“cure, remedy”) + -ālis.[3][2][4] In manuscripts it is confused with remediābilis.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Macrobius, in the first half of the 5th century AD, has it in the Saturnalia of a healing power in bronze,[3][5] meaning “healing, salutary”.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Cassiodorus applied it to a healing order concerning the waters that a sufferer from gout wished to visit,[3] and in Christian writers it was used more widely of anything that serves to set right or amend, such as help sought by a confessed heretic or meditation set against forgetfulness.[3]

Medieval Latin in Britain used it of help, comfort or support that provides a remedy, and in law of the writs called brevia remedialia in Fleta.[6] English took it over in the 1650s as remedial.[7]

Timeline

  • 1st half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius uses it of a healing power in bronze.[3][5]
  • c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus speaks of a healing order and of meditation as a remedy against forgetfulness.[3][5]
  • c. 1290 – Fleta names the brevia remedialia, remedial writs.[6][5]
  • 1298 – A council letter asks for remedial help through a proctor.[6]
  • 1650s – English borrows it as remedial.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. healing, curative, salutary.[1][2][4][3]
  2. (Late Latin) Serving to amend or correct, remedial.[3]
  3. (Medieval Latin, law) Of a writ: providing a legal remedy.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  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 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
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Remedialis.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/remedialis. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·