instabilis Latin · revision 32326

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 50 BC, Caesar|origins=ine-pro *steh₂-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''īnstabilis''' (neuter īnstabile); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|stabilis|t1=not|t2=steady, firm]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) [[m|la|stabilis]] is made from [[m|la|stō|t=to stand]], which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*sta-ē-je/o-|t=to stand]] and [[ine-pro|*sth₂-eh₁-ie/o-|t=to stand]], from the root [[ine-pro|*steh₂-]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's earliest example is in Caesar, of the swift and changeable movements that naval warfare demands.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is said of people and animals unable to keep their feet, of unsteady steps, and of things not firmly fixed, such as a balance.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Livy uses it of a battle line that would not stand still, and Ovid of an unstable earth that gave no foothold.^(OLD 2012) Figuratively it is inconstant or fickle.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Lewis & Short call it mostly poetic and note that it is absent from Cicero.^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Church Latin it also describes a person with no fixed abode.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar of the shifting movements of ships.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a wavering line and of unsteady footing.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the unstable earth.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Unable to stand firm, tottering; of steps, [[m|en|unsteady]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Not firmly fixed, [[m|en|unstable]]; not offering a foothold.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Not keeping still, wavering.^(OLD 2012)

+ # [[m|en|inconstant|alt=Inconstant]], changeable, [[m|en|fickle]].^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[īnstabilitās]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}