violabilis

Forms

violābilis (neuter violābile); third-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin violō + -bilis, “that can be violated”.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Virgil has it in the Aeneid in the phrase non violabile numen, a divine power that may not be outraged.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Besides the sense of something that may be violated or outraged,^[1][2] it meant “that can be wounded, vulnerable”: in the Letter of Sappho ascribed to Ovid, a heart is said to be easily hurt by light arrows.^[1][2] L&S calls the word poetic.^[2] Statius uses it later of a crowd that no weapons could harm,^[2] and Augustine also uses it.^[3]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the Aeneid of a divine power.^[2][4]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it in the Thebaid.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That may be violated or outraged.^[1][2][3]
2. That can be wounded, vulnerable.^[1][5]

Word family

• inviolābilis

Usage notes

Georges sets it against its opposite, inviolābilis.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.