English
imbecility
Imbecility comes from Classical Latin imbēcillitās ‘weakness, feebleness’, and goes back to Latin imbēcillus.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimbēcillus‘weak, feeble’
- Classical Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimbēcillitās‘weakness, feebleness’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600imbecilité
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500inbecillite
- Englishearliest quotation 1895imbecility
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimbēcillus‘weak, feeble’
- Classical Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimbēcillitās‘weakness, feebleness’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600imbecilité
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500inbecillite
- Englishearliest quotation 1895imbecility
Earliest quotation: 1895, Degeneration, New York: D. Appleton and Company: “The Parnassian theory of art is mere imbecility.”
Linked words
through Latin baculum ‘staff, walking stick’
Today it means
noun The quality of being imbecile; weakness; feebleness, especially of mind.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin imbēcillus / imbecility