inexplicabilis Latin · revision 34226

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la explicō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɪ.nɛk.splɪˈkaː.bɪ.lɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [i.nek.spliˈkaː.bi.lis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''inexplicābilis''' (neuter inexplicābile); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|explicābilis|t1=not|t2=that can be unfolded or explained]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) That adjective belongs to [[m|la|explicō|t=to unfold]], a compound of the verb [[m|la|plicō|t=to fold]]; de Vaan takes the verbs in ⟨-plicāre⟩ as denominal formations that go back to [[itc-pro|*-plek-ā-]] and [[ine-pro|*pleḱ-|t=to plait, twine]], and thinks the simple [[m|la|plicō]] was made afterwards from the compounds.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL records it from Cicero onwards and notes that poetry does not use it.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) Cicero writes to Atticus ''o rem difficilem et inexplicabilem! atqui explicanda est'', “what a difficult and inextricable business! Yet it must be unravelled”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis and Short note that the classical writers use it only figuratively.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Its literal sense, that cannot be unravelled, is in Curtius' knot that would make whoever untied it master of Asia and in Quintilian's figurative snares; of places it means labyrinthine, as in Pliny the Elder's description of a labyrinth, and Livy uses it of roads made impassable by continuous rain.^(OLD 2012) Of a problem it means insoluble or baffling, of a dispute endless, and of a disease, in Pliny the Younger, incurable.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Pliny the Elder also uses it of what cannot be put into words: a countless multitude.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Tacitus' ''Annals'' the OLD and Lewis and Short read ''bellum inexplicabile'', an endless war, while the TLL takes the form there as a corruption of [[inexpiābilis]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) Medieval British writers use it of questions that cannot be solved, and of what cannot be uttered, both of inexpressible joy and of unspeakable suffering.^(DMLBS) It is the source of Italian [[m|it|inesplicabile]].^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero calls an affair difficult and inextricable.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of roads made impassable by rain.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Curtius uses it of the knot whose untier would rule Asia.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a labyrinth and of an innumerable multitude.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # That cannot be unravelled, [[m|en|inextricable]]; of places, [[m|en|labyrinthine]]; of roads, [[m|en|impassable]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Of a problem, that cannot be solved, baffling; of a dispute, endless; of a disease, [[m|en|incurable]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # Involved, complex.^(OLD 2012)

+ # That cannot be put into words, inexpressible, [[m|en|inexplicable]]; countless.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[explicō]]

+ * [[explicābilis]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The adverb ''inexplicābiliter'', “inextricably”, is post-classical, in Apuleius and Augustine.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}