The corpus record — Latin

imbecillus

physically weak, fragile

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

Where it lives

Academica 3 · 6.16/10k
De Otio 1 · 5.1/10k
Cathemerina 3 · 4.08/10k
De Consolatione ad Marciam 3 · 3.56/10k
De Tranquillitate Animi 2 · 2.65/10k
Severus 1 · 2.37/10k
Pro M. Caelio 2 · 2.36/10k
Paradoxa stoicorum ad M. Brutum 1 · 2.32/10k
De Cultu Feminarum 1 · 1.95/10k
De Ira 4 · 1.79/10k
De consolatione philosophiae 4 · 1.63/10k
De Vita Iulii Agricolae 1 · 1.48/10k

Densest 12 of 51 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. imbecillus — de Vaan

imbecillus 'physically weak, fragile' [adj. o/a) (Afran.+; also /-stem) The word has been etymologized as *n-bak(t)lelo- 'without a (walking) stick' > weak' because of a Juvenal scholia: imbecillis: quasi sine baculo. The meaning is hardly compelling: it seems to me that exactly the persons who can walk without a support are the stronger ones. In addition, imbecillus has long e in Lucr. and Horace. imbuo EM suggest … — [de Vaan, s.v. imbecillus, p. 312]

2. imbēcillus — Lewis & Short

imbēcillus (inb-), a, um (also im-bēcillis, e, Sen. de Ira, 3, 28, 3; adj.,

id. de Clem. 2, 6, 3; v. Neue, Formenl. 2, 93 sq.),

I weak, feeble (class.; cf.: debilis, imbellis).

I Of the body.

A Of living beings: cum homo imbecillus a valentissima bestia laniatur, Cic. Fam. 7, 1, 3: multi sunt imbecilli senes ... quam fuit imbecillus P. Africani filius! quam tenui aut nulla potius valetudine! id. de Sen. 11, 35: et absentes (amici) assunt et egentes abundant et imbecilli valent, etc., id. Lael. 7, 23: imbecilliores (opp. firmiores), Quint. 5, 10, 49: Marius et valetudine et natura imbecillior, Cic. Q. Fr. 2, 10, 3: nemo e nobis imbecillus fuit, cujus salus ac valetudo non sustentaretur Caesaris cura, indisposed, Vell. 2, 114, 1.—Subst.: imbecillorum esse aecum misererier, Lucr. 5, 1023.—

B Of things: vox, Quint. 11, 3, 13: frons, id. 12, 5, 4: pulsus venarum (with exigui), Cels. 3, 19: imbecillissimus ac facillimus sanguis, Sen. Ben. 4, 18: accedent anni et tractari mollius aetas Imbecilla volet, Hor. S. 2, 2, 86: nescio quomodo imbecillior est medicina quam morbus, Cic. Att. 10, 14. 2: terra infecunda ad omnia atque imbecilla, Plin. 17, 5, 3, § 35: vina (opp. valida), id. 14, 21, 27, § 134: imbecillissimam materiam esse omne olus, the least nourishing, Cels. 2, 18.—In a different sense: ovum durum valentissimae materiae est, molle vel sorbile imbecillissimae, very easy of digestion, Cels. 2, 18: simulacra vultus imbecilla ac mortalia sunt: forma mentis aeterna, Tac. Agr. 46: regnum vobis trado firmum, si boni eritis: si mali, imbecillum, Sall. J. 10, 6.—

II Of the mind: qui eam superstitionem imbecilli animi atque anilis putent, Cic. Div. 2, 60, 125: ingenia, Quint. 2, 8, 12; cf.: imbecilliores vel animo vel fortuna, Cic. Lael. 19, 70; id. Rep. 1, 34: motus fortunae, id. Fin. 5, 24, 71: ab imbecillis accusatoribus accusari, id. Q. Fr. 2, 6, 6: suspiciones, Tac. A. 2, 76.—Subst.: ignavi et imbecilli, Cic. Rep. 1, 32; Sen. Ep. 85.—Hence, adv.: imbēcillē, weakly, feebly, faintly (very rare; perh. only in the comp.): iis, quae videntur, imbecillius assentiuntur, Cic. Ac. 2, 17, 52: imbecillius horrent dolorem, id. Tusc. 5, 30, 85.

In the wild

inbecillam Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes 4.15
imbecillo Cicero, Pro P. Sestio 24
inbecillo Valerius Maximus, Facta et Dicta Memorabilia 7.3.6
inbecillum Celsus, De Medicina 1.3.p5
inbecillos Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae 4.P1.p2
imbecillo Columella, Res Rustica, Books I-IX 6.31.1

6 of 126 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. imbecillus (scan pp. 312-313; entry #803). Root candidates: *nljhro-, *enpu-.
Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. imbécillus (scan pp. 333-334; entry #5270).

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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.