English
intolerable
Intolerable comes from Latin intolerābilis ‘intolerable, insupportable’, from tolerābilis ‘bearable, supportable, endurable, passable,…’, and ultimately from tolerō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtolerō‘endure, tolerate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtolerābilis‘bearable, supportable, endurable, passable, tolerable’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEintolerābilis‘intolerable, insupportable’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600intolerable
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1971same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtolerō‘endure, tolerate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtolerābilis‘bearable, supportable, endurable, passable, tolerable’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEintolerābilis‘intolerable, insupportable’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600intolerable
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1971same form
Earliest quotation: 1971, William S. Burroughs, The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead: “It is an intolerable sound that sets spoons tinkling…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- ‘to bear, carry’
talent, atlas, toll, tellurium, extol, 18 more
through Latin tolerō ‘endure, tolerate’
Today it means
adj Not tolerable; not capable of being borne or endured.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin tolerō / intolerable