debilis

Disputed. By surface analysis, the term is an adjective formed according to the model of terms such as inermis.^[1] It has been proposed that the term may derive from dēbeō (“to owe”) in the manner as habilis (“able to have”), from habeō (“to have, hold”).^[2] However, according to De Vaan, the form dēbilis is isolated within Latin and therefore likely archaic, in which case it may preserve an older i-stem form. De Vaan suggests that the term may continue either Proto-Indo-European *bel-i- or *bol-i- (“strength”), though he considers the latter pre-form more likely on the basis of Proto-Slavic *boľьjь, which also displays an o-grade. Ultimately, De Vaan connects the term with the root *bel-.^[3]

Compare Sanskrit बल (bala), Russian большой (bolʹšoj), Ancient Greek βελτίων (beltíōn, “better < stronger”)

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈdeː.bɪ.lɪs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈdɛː.bi.lis]

dēbilis (neuter dēbile, comparative dēbilior, superlative dēbilissimus); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. weak, frail, feeble

   Synonyms: languidus, fractus, aeger, mollis, fessus, tenuis, īnfirmus, inops, obnoxius

   Antonyms: praevalēns, fortis, potis, potēns, validus, strēnuus, compos

   • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes 2.13:

     Ita est utraque rēs sine alterā dēbilis.

     Thus each is feeble without the other.

2. lame, disabled, crippled, infirm, debilitated

   Synonym: claudus

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

• dēbilitās

• “debilis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “debilis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "debilis", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “debilis”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.