Etymologically
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venerabilis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [wɛ.nɛˈraː.bɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ve.neˈraː.bi.lis][1]

Forms

venerābilis (neuter venerābile); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin veneror (“to worship, revere”) + -bilis.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Virgil calls the golden bough the venerable gift of the fateful wand.[2][3] Lewis & Short note that it is not found before the Augustan age.[4]

Semantic evolution

It is worthy of reverence for holiness, age or rank: Livy calls Evander venerable for the wonder of letters, and more venerable still for the belief in his mother Carmenta's divinity.[2] Quintilian applies it to the great men of the past.[4] Valerius Maximus uses it actively, of the Senate's reverence towards the gods.[2] In the Church it became a title of honour, and in medieval Latin ⟨vir venerābilis⟩ is the title of bishops and abbots, ⟨vīta venerābilis⟩ the life of a monk.[5][6]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of the golden bough.[2][3]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of Evander.[2][3]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it.[3]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of the great men of the past.[4][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Worthy of respect for holiness or age, venerable, august.[2][4][1]
  2. Showing reverence, reverential.[2]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Reverend, a title of honour.[5]
  4. (Medieval Latin) vir venerābilis, title of a bishop or abbot;[6] vīta venerābilis, the life of a monk.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill