intractabilis Latin · revision 36652

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''intractābilis''' (neuter intractābile); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|tractābilis|t1=not, un-|t2=manageable]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) The base is formed from [[m|la|tractō|t=to handle]], the frequentative of [[m|la|trahō|t=to draw, drag]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Virgil,^(Köbler 2010)^(TLL) who calls a people ''genus intractābile bellō'', “a race hard to master in war”, and has ''brūmae intractābilis'', “of winter, when no work can be done”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The TLL notes that it is found in the poets Virgil and Grattius and in prose from the younger Seneca on.^(TLL) Of people it meant hard to deal with, unmanageable or harsh: Seneca begs his addressee not to be ''difficilem amīcīs et intractābilem'', and Gellius has the comparative of a man more intractable and morose by nature.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Of things it described what cannot be handled or used: a rock unmoved by the waves, a poison that cannot be cured, regions that cold makes uninhabitable.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) Servius glosses it as “unconquerable, rough, savage”.^(TLL)

+

+ Medieval writers used it of harsh or obstinate people, of land unfit for cultivation, and of God as intangible.^(MLW)^(DMLBS) It passed into Italian as [[m|it|intrattabile]].^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a warlike people and of winter.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it in prose of an intractable person.^(Georges 1913)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of an incurable poison.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 165 AD – Gellius uses the comparative ''intractābilior''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # That cannot be dealt with, [[m|en|unmanageable]], [[m|en|intractable]]; harsh, hard to subdue.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(of things or conditions)'' Rough, unusable; uninhabitable; incurable.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Intangible, that cannot be grasped (of God).^(MLW)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}