inextricabilis Latin · revision 36414

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=la trīcae}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''inextrīcābilis''' (neuter inextrīcābile); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|extrīcō|-bilis|t1=not|t2=to disentangle|t3=-able]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan lists [[m|la|extrīcō]] (from Plautus on) among the derivatives of [[m|la|trīcae|t=complications, tricks; trifles]], whose etymology he calls uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first known use is in Virgil's ''Aeneid'' (6.27), of the maze of the labyrinth, from which no one could find the way out (''inextrīcābilis error'').^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a poetic and post-Augustan word.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Besides pathless places, it is used of things that cannot be disentangled: Apuleius has it of a confused heap of seeds that Psyche does not even try to sort.^(OLD 2012) Seneca uses it of a burden one cannot escape and, in the ''Phoenissae'', of a riddle that cannot be solved,^(OLD 2012) and Pliny the Elder, in a good sense, of the intricate workmanship of the smallest insects.^(OLD 2012) Pliny also uses it of bark that cannot be stripped off a tree.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ The word survives in Church Latin with the meaning “inextricable”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the labyrinth.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of an inescapable burden and an insoluble riddle.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of intricate workmanship and of bark that cannot be stripped.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a heap of seeds that cannot be sorted.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Impossible to [[m|en|disentangle]] or sort out; of places, from which one cannot find a way out, [[m|en|pathless]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Of circumstances, that one cannot escape from.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Of problems, [[m|en|insoluble]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # Of workmanship, [[m|en|intricate]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # Impossible to strip off or detach.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[extrīcō]]

+ * [[trīcae]]

+ * [[intrīcō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}