sensibilitas

Forms

sēnsibilitās f (genitive sēnsibilitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin sēnsibilis (“perceptible, sensible”) + -tās,^[1][2] from sentiō (“to perceive, feel”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nonius Marcellus (end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century AD) uses it for the sense or meaning of words.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

Fulgentius (c. 500 AD) has it for the ability to feel,^[2][5][3] and later writers speak of the sensibility of the body or of the flesh.^[4] Niermeyer gives the medieval sense of sensitiveness.^[6] In British medieval sources it means both perceptibility, the capacity to be perceived by the senses, and sensitivity, the capacity to perceive.^[7] Thomas Aquinas distinguished it from sensualitas: sensibilitas takes in all the powers of the senses, while sensualitas is properly sensual appetite.^[8] English took sensibility from Old French in the late 14th century.^[9]

Timeline

• end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century AD – Nonius uses it for the meaning of words.^[2][3]
• c. 500 AD – Fulgentius uses it for the faculty of feeling.^[2][3]
• late 14th century – English sensibility is borrowed through Old French.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) The sense or meaning of words.^[2][4][1]
2. (Late Latin) sensibility, the ability to feel.^[2][5][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) perceptibility.^[7]

Related words

• sensibilis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com