reprehensibilis

Forms

reprehēnsibilis (neuter reprehēnsibile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin reprehendō + -bilis, built on the participle reprehēnsus.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first record is a letter of the emperor Marcus Aurelius in the correspondence of Fronto, where the sense is “blameworthy”: he asks that nothing be said that is unworthy of his character.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is found only in prose: after Marcus Aurelius in the Vetus Latina, Porphyrio and Lactantius.^[3] The Vulgate has it in Galatians 2:11, and Salvian uses it of drunkenness.^[4] Glossaries render it with Ancient Greek ἐπιλήψιμος (epilḗpsimos) and εὐκατάγνωστος (eukatágnōstos).^[3] It stayed in use in ecclesiastical and medieval Latin,^[5][6] and passed through Old French reprehensible and directly into English as reprehensible.^[7]

Timeline

• 100–170 AD – A letter of Marcus Aurelius in Fronto's correspondence has it.^[3][8]
• first half of the 3rd century AD – The jurist Paulus uses it.^[8]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it.^[4][8]
• 435/439 AD – Salvian calls drunkenness reprehensibilis.^[4][8]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as reprehensible.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Open to censure, blameworthy, reprehensible (of persons or conduct).^[2][4][3]

Word family

• irreprehēnsibilis

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de