English
incomprehensibility
Incomprehensibility comes from Latin incomprehēnsibilis ‘incomprehensible, not able to be understood’, and goes back to comprehēnsibilis ‘that can be seized or laid hold of’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomprehēnsibilis‘that can be seized or laid hold of’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEincomprehēnsibilis‘incomprehensible, not able to be understood’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600incomprehensible
- English1500–presentsame form
- Englishearliest quotation 1781incomprehensibility
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomprehēnsibilis‘that can be seized or laid hold of’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEincomprehēnsibilis‘incomprehensible, not able to be understood’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600incomprehensible
- English1500–presentsame form
- Englishearliest quotation 1781incomprehensibility
Earliest quotation: 1781, Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason: “We should be quite willing to desist from the…”
A compound of prehendō ‘to lay hold of, seize, grasp, grab, snatch,…’ + comprehendō ‘to lay hold of something on all sides’
Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- ‘to find’
Proto-Indo-European *gʰnédti
Proto-Italic *hendō ‘to hold’
Proto-Italic *praiɣendō
Latin prehendō ‘to lay hold of, seize, grasp, grab, snatch, take, catch’
Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- ‘to find’
Proto-Indo-European *gʰnédti
Proto-Italic *hendō ‘to hold’
Proto-Italic *praiɣendō
Latin prehendō ‘to lay hold of, seize, grasp, grab, snatch, take, catch’
Latin comprehendō ‘to lay hold of something on all sides’
Linked words
through Latin comprehēnsibilis ‘that can be seized or laid hold of’
Today it means
noun The quality or state of being incomprehensible.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin comprehēnsibilis / incomprehensibility