The corpus record — Latin

debilis

weak; crippled

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Helius 1 · 6.97/10k
Didius Julianus 1 · 6.29/10k
Panegyricus dictus Probino et Olybrio consulibus 1 · 5.88/10k
Commodus Antoninus 2 · 5.77/10k
De Otio 1 · 5.1/10k
Peristephanon Liber 8 · 4.55/10k
Maximus et Balbinus 1 · 3.18/10k
Divus Vespasianus 1 · 3.13/10k
Pro C. Rabirio Perduellionis Reo Ad Quirites 1 · 2.82/10k
Fabulae Aesopiae 3 · 2.74/10k
Panegyricus de sexto consulatu Honorii Augusti 1 · 2.4/10k
Carminum minorum corpusculum 2 · 2.37/10k

Densest 12 of 72 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. debilis — de Vaan

debilis 'weak; crippled' [adj. i] (P1.+; debit [nom.sg.m.] Enn.) Derivatives: debilitare 'to weaken' (Varro*). Pit. *de-be/o!i- 'without strength'. decern PIE *bel-o- 'strength, power\ IE cognates: Skt. bala- [n.] 'strength, power', Gr. βέλτερος 'better' (post-Η. βελτίων) , βέλτατος, βέλτιστος 'best'; OCS bolii 'bigger, better', f, bojtsi, n. bolje, SCr. boljl 'better' < *bol-(i)isAo-. The expression debil homo in … — [de Vaan, s.v. debilis, p. 176]

2. dēbĭlis — Lewis & Short

dēbĭlis (old shortened form

I debil, v. Ritschl, Opusc. Phil. 2, 331), e, adj. de-habilis; cf. Dig. 49, 16, 4, § 12: lit. unmanageable, wanting in flexibility or activity; hence, lame, disabled, crippled, infirm, debilitated, feeble, frail, weak, etc. For syn. cf.: imbecillus, infirmus, invalidus (freq. and class.).

I Lit.

a Of personal subjects: debiles fieri, Cato R. R. 157, 10: si gladium imbecillo seni aut debili dederis, Cic. Sest. 10, 24; cf. id. Phil. 8, 10, 31; Phaedr. 4, 2, 10: confectus senectute, mancus et membris omnibus captus ac debilis, Cic. Rab. Perd. 7, 21; cf.: debilis manu, pede, coxa, Maecen. ap. Sen. Ep. 101, 11; ille humero, hic lumbis, hic coxa debilis, * Juv. 10, 227: plurimis stipendiis debilis miles, Plin. 7, 28, 29, § 104: integris debiles implicabantur, Curt. 4, 16, 11: amissis remis atque ordine debilis uno Sergestus, Verg. A. 5, 271: claudi ac debiles equi, Liv. 21, 40.—

b Of inanimate subjects: membra metu, * Ter. Ad. 4, 4, 3; Sen. Contr. 5, 33; cf. debile fit corpus, Lucr. 4, 952; 5, 830: manus, Ov. M. 12, 106: crus, * Suet. Vesp. 7: ferrum, Verg. A. 12, 50: pennae, Ov. R. Am. 198: jugum, id. Pont. 3, 1, 68: umbra, id. Tr. 3, 4, 20.—Poet.: iter, i.e. of a wounded man, Stat. Th. 12, 144.

II Trop., disabled, weak, in mind, character, authority, etc.

a Of personal subjects: eos qui restitissent infirmos sine illo (sc. Catilina) ac debiles fore putabam, Cic. Cat. 3, 2: qui hac parte animi (sc. memoria) tam debilis esset, ut, etc., id. Brut. 61, 219: ingenio debilior, Tac. H. 4, 62; cf.: sine animo anima est debilis, Att. ap. Non. 426, 48 (v. 296 Ribbeck).—

b Of inanimate subjects: duo corpora esse reipublicae, unum debile, infirmo capite: alterum firmum sine capite, Cic. Mur. 25, 51: manca ac debilis praetura, id. Mil. 9, 25; id. Tusc. 2, 5, 13: manus, sine quibus trunca esset actio ac debilis, Quint. 11, 3, 85: inscitia, * Pers. 5, 99.—Comp. v. supra.—Sup. appears not to occur.—* Adv., dēbĭlĭter, infirmly, lamely, feebly: lacrimis lingua debiliter stupet, Pac. ap. Non. 98, 18 (v. 355 Ribbeck).

3. débilis — Walde–Hofmann

débilis (dedil Enn.) -e „schwach, gebrechlich, krank; lahm, verstümmelt* (seit Enn. und Plaut., rom.; -#äs „Gebrechlichkeit* und -&ti6 „Schwächung“ seit Cic., -äre ,schwüchen* seit Varro und Cic.): debilis — decem. 327 aus *de-bel-is ‚von Kräften, entkrüftet" (Possessivkomp. mit privativem de, 8, d.) zu ai. bálam n. „Kraft, Stärke, Gewalt*, bilıyan „stärker“, dalisthah „der stürkste* (Bopp. Gloss. sanscr. 238*); gr. … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. débilis, p. 358]

In the wild

debiles Tertullian, De Praescriptionibus Hereticorum 43.p2
debilis Claudian, Panegyricus de sexto consulatu Honorii Augusti 1.137
debilium Livy, Ab urbe condita 1.7.13.6
debilem Seneca, Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales 7.66.25
debili Seneca, Medea 1
debiles Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 30.6.2

6 of 136 attestations shown.

Where it came from

de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. debilis (scan pp. 176-177; entry #412). Root candidates: *bol-, *bel-.
Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. débilis (scan p. 189; entry #2926).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. débilis (scan pp. 358-362; entry #883). Root candidates: *bhel-, *gralite-, *grel-.

Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.