Etymograph

English

inenubilable

Inenubilable comes from Latin ēnūbilāre ‘to clear of clouds or mist’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)newdʰ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)newdʰ-root as named
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēnūbilāre‘to clear of clouds or mist’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1903inenubilable

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)newdʰ-root as named
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēnūbilāre‘to clear of clouds or mist’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1903inenubilable

Earliest quotation: 1903, Max: “They go, but are overwhelmed by an avalanche, while…”

Equivalent to in- + e- + nūbilus + -able

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’

Proto-Germanic *in ‘into’

English in-

The story

From English in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + Latin ēnūbilāre (‘to clear of clouds or mist; (figurative) to clear of obscurity’) + English -able (suffix meaning ‘able to be done’ forming adjectives), possibly coined by the English critic and essayist Max Beerbohm (1872–1956): see the 1903 and 1911 quotations below. Ēnūbilāre is derived from ē- (a variant of ex- (prefix denoting privation)) + nūbilus (‘cloudy, overcast; (figurative) beclouded, confused, troubled’) (from nūbēs (‘cloud; (figurative) concealment, obscurity’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)newdʰ- (‘to cover’)) + -āre.

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *(s)newdʰ-

Today it means

adj Incapable of being cleared of clouds.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)newdʰ- / inenubilable

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