Etymograph

English

inenarrable

Inenarrable comes from French inénarrable ‘indescribable, inexpressible’, from Latin ēnārrābilis ‘describable, explainable’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *gnārāō ‘to make known, tell’.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gnārāō‘to make known, tell’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnārrō‘to relate’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēnārrō‘to explain in detail’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēnārrābilis‘describable, explainable’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinēnārrābilis‘indescribable’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentinénarrable‘indescribable, inexpressible’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1508inenarrable

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gnārāō‘to make known, tell’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnārrō‘to relate’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēnārrō‘to explain in detail’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēnārrābilis‘describable, explainable’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinēnārrābilis‘indescribable’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentinénarrable‘indescribable, inexpressible’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1508inenarrable

Earliest quotation: 1508, John Fisher, The English Works of John Fisher: “For where almyghty god is reſydent all thynges be…”

Formed from in- + enarrable

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’

Proto-Germanic *in ‘into’

English in-

The story

Learned borrowing from French inénarrable, from Latin inēnārrābilis (‘indescribable’), from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + ēnārrābilis (‘describable, explainable’). Ēnārrābilis is derived from ēnārrāre + -bilis (suffix forming adjectives indicating a capacity or worth of being acted upon); ēnārrāre is the present active infinitive of ēnārrō (‘to explain in detail, expound’), from ē- (a variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out; thoroughly’)) + narrō (‘to say; to relate, tell; to describe; to recount, report’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (‘to know’)). The English word is analysable as in- + enarrable.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- ‘to know’

can, know, could, note, normal, notice, recognize, ignore, recognition, glory, con, notion, cognitive, ken, keen, norm, ignorant, noble, diagnostic, notorious, notation, nobility, cognition, prognosis, cunning, gnome, notoriety, quaint, agnostic, notary, incognito, canny, connoisseur, uncouth, kith, gnosis, canna, annotate, recognizance, cognizance, 89 more

through Latin nārrō ‘to relate’

narrative, narration, 2 more

Today it means

adj That cannot be told; indescribable, inexpressible, unspeakable.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *gnārāō / inenarrable

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