miserabilis Latin · revision 31187

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=itc-pro *misro-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [mɪ.sɛˈraː.bɪ.lɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [mi.s̬eˈraː.bi.lis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''miserābilis''' (neuter miserābile, comparative miserābilior); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[m|la|miseror|t=to pity]] with the suffix [[m|la|-bilis]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) The verb comes from [[m|la|miser|t=wretched]], which de Vaan derives from [[itc-pro|*misro-]]; it may be connected with [[m|la|maereō|t=to grieve]], but no acceptable Proto-Indo-European origin has been found.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) Isidore explained it as “apt for misery”.^(TLL)^(Isidore)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler gives Cicero as its first author,^(Köbler 2010) who writes that “nothing is so pitiable as a man who has fallen from happiness into misery” and uses it of a voice inflected to sound pitiable.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Of persons it is deserving or exciting pity, pitiable or pathetic, and of acts and words pitiful, as Cicero's “voice bent to a pitiful sound”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Of conditions and events it is wretched or lamentable, as Cicero's “pitiful ignorance of the truth”.^(OLD 2012) It is also pitifully small or mean, as Lucan's poor tomb with no inscriptions.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ English [[m|en|miserable]] comes from it, partly through Old French, from the early 15th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of the pitiable fall from happiness.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has the comparative.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * early 15th century – English [[m|en|miserable]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|pitiable|alt=Pitiable]], pathetic;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) (of the voice) plaintive.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Wretched, [[m|en|lamentable]], [[m|en|miserable]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Pitifully small, mean.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[immiserābilis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[miser]]

+ * [[miseror]]

+ * [[misericordia]]

+ * [[maereō]]

+ * [[en|miserable]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}