imbecillus Latin · revision 677

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ɪm.beːˈkɪl.lʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [im.beˈt͡ʃil.lus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''imbēcillus''' (feminine imbēcilla, neuter imbēcillum, comparative imbēcillior); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is without an accepted etymology.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) A scholiast on Juvenal explained it as “without a staff”, and it has been derived from a negative prefix and [[baculum]], as by Köbler and Georges.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)^(Georges 1913)^(TLL) De Vaan rejects this, since those who can walk without a stick are the stronger ones, and because the ''ē'' is long in Lucretius and Horace; he also finds Ernout and Meillet's starting point *imbeccillus far-fetched.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Afranius, in the 2nd century BC,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who calls a boy “puny and [[m|en|weak]] in strength”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first sense was physically weak, of people and animals, and weak through illness, as of an ailing friend in Cicero.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It extended to delicate plants, fragile substances, weak forces, and food or medicine without potency, as in Cicero's remark that the remedy is somehow weaker than the disease.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Applied to power and resources it meant ineffective, as of weak troops or prosecutors, and of the mind it meant feeble or lacking moral strength.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ A third-declension form ''imbecillis'' also occurs.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Through French ''imbécile'' it gave [[en|imbecile]], first meaning “weak, feeble” in body.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 2nd century BC – Afranius uses it of a weak boy.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of fragile first bodies.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of weak old men and weak troops.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of youth corrupted by ambition.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1540s – Through French it gives [[en|imbecile]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Physically [[m|en|weak]], feeble; sickly.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # (of plants) Delicate.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Fragile, (of forces) weak, (of food, medicine) ineffective.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Lacking power or resources, ineffective.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Lacking intellectual or moral strength.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[imbēcillitās]]

+ * [[perimbēcillus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[baculum]]

+ * [[en|imbecile]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}