capabilis

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

substratebor.?

Proto-Indo-European *kap-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti

Proto-Italic *kapjō

Archaic Latin kapiō

Latin capiō

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlis

Latin -bilis

Latin -ābilis

Latin capābilis

From capiō (“to hold, to contain, to take, to understand”) + -ābilis (“-able”).

Adjective

capābilis (neuter capābile); third-declension two-termination adjective (Late Latin)

1. (Late Latin) comprehensible
2. (Late Latin) intelligent
3. (Medieval Latin) capable

Declension

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	capābilis	capābile		capābilēs	capābilia
genitive	capābilis			capābilium
dative	capābilī			capābilibus
accusative	capābilem	capābile		capābilīs capābilēs	capābilia
ablative	capābilī			capābilibus
vocative	capābilis	capābile		capābilēs	capābilia

Descendants

• → Interlingua: capabile
• → Italian: capabile
• → Middle French: capable
  • French: capable (see there for further descendants)
  • → English: capable
  • → Norman: capabl'ye

References

• “capabilis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "capabilis", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “capabilis”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.