Etymologically
Log in

sanabilis

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 11:36. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [saːˈnaː.bɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [saˈnaː.bi.lis][1]

Forms

sānābilis (neuter sānābile); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sānō (“to heal, cure”) + -bilis.[2][1] The verb comes from sānus (“healthy”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *sāno-; he calls the further reconstruction Proto-Indo-European *seh₂-no- purely mechanical, and suggests either the root *seh₂- (“to tie”), giving a sense “in order”, or a root meaning “to satisfy”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,[4] who uses it of the mind in the Tusculan Disputations: īrācundī sānābilēs, “irascible men can be cured”.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a rare but classical word for what can be healed:[6] a wound in Ovid,[6][5] pain in Celsus, who has the comparative,[6][5] and, figuratively, faults of the mind and character in Cicero and Seneca,[5][7] who says that whoever comes to a philosopher should go home either healthier or more curable.[5] Ovid has nūllīs amor est sānābilis herbīs, “love cannot be cured by any herbs”.[7] Pliny the Elder uses it actively of snakes whose bites can be cured, saying that asps are the least curable of all.[2][7] In Augustine and Caelius Aurelianus it means wholesome or healing,[5][7] and medieval writers used it both for curable and for conducive to health.[8] It survives in Italian sanabile.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of curable faults of the mind.[5][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of wounds and of love.[6][7][4]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus has the comparative sānābilior.[6][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of snakes whose bites can be cured.[2][4]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it in the sense “healing”.[5][4]
  • Medieval Latin – Used for “conducive to health” in the penitential of Theodore.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. That can be healed, curable, remediable, of the body or the mind.[2][6][5]
  2. Of a snake, inflicting wounds that can be cured.[2]
  3. (Late Latin) Wholesome, healing.[5][7][8]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c 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