visibilis
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Pronunciation
Forms
vīsibilis (neuter vīsibile, adverb vīsibiliter); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]
Etymology
It is from videō “to see” with the suffix -bilis.[2][1][3]
Earliest recorded meaning
The OLD's earliest citation is from Pliny the Elder, of being able to see.[2] Köbler dates Pliny 23/24–79 AD.[4]
Semantic evolution
In Pliny the Elder it meant able to see.[2][5] In Apuleius and Prudentius it meant able to be seen, visible, which Lewis and Short call late Latin for aspectābilis.[2][6][5]
In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant visible, outward.[7] It survives in Italian visibile and French visible, and Old French visable with the Latin gave English visible in the mid-14th century.[1][3]
Timeline
- 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of seeing.[2][4]
- c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of the visible.[2][4]
- 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it.[5][4]
- mid-14th century – English visible is recorded.[3]
Meanings
Adjective
Word family
- vīsibiliter
- vīsibilitās
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
- ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson