Advertisement

Origin and history of affable

affable(adj.)

of persons, "open to conversation or approach," late 15c., from Old French affable "benign, approachable" (14c.), from Latin affabilis "approachable, courteous, kind, friendly," literally "who can be (easily) spoken to," from affari "to speak to," from ad "to" (see ad-) + fari "to speak" (from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say"). Related: Affably. Glossed in Old English as wordwynsum.

also from late 15c.

Entries linking to affable

affability(n.)

"readiness to be sociable or to converse," late 15c., from Old French affabilité (14c.), noun of quality from affable (see affable).

ad-

word-forming element expressing direction toward or in addition to, from Latin ad "to, toward" in space or time; "with regard to, in relation to," as a prefix, sometimes merely emphatic, from PIE root *ad- "to, near, at."

Simplified to a- before sc-, sp- and st-; modified to ac- before many consonants and then re-spelled af-, ag-, al-, etc., in conformity with the following consonant (as in affection, aggression). Also compare ap- (1).

In Old French, reduced to a- in all cases (an evolution already underway in Merovingian Latin), but French refashioned its written forms on the Latin model in 14c., and English did likewise 15c. in words it had picked up from Old French. In many cases pronunciation followed the shift.

Over-correction at the end of the Middle Ages in French and then English "restored" the -d- or a doubled consonant to some words that never had it (accursed, afford). The process went further in England than in France (where the vernacular sometimes resisted the pedantic), resulting in English adjourn, advance, address, advertisement (Modern French ajourner, avancer, adresser, avertissement). In modern word-formation sometimes ad- and ab- are regarded as opposites, but this was not in classical Latin.

*bha-(2)

*bhā-; Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to speak, tell, say."

It might form all or part of: abandon; affable; anthem; antiphon; aphasia; aphonia; aphonic; apophasis; apophatic; ban (n.1) "proclamation or edict;" ban (v.); banal; bandit; banish; banlieue; banns (n.); bifarious; blame; blaspheme; blasphemy; boon (n.); cacophony; confess; contraband; defame; dysphemism; euphemism; euphony; fable; fabulous; fado; fairy; fame; famous; fandango; fatal; fate; fateful; fatuous; fay; gramophone; heterophemy; homophone; ineffable; infamous; infamy; infant; infantile; infantry; mauvais; megaphone; microphone; monophonic; nefandous; nefarious; phatic; -phone; phone (n.2) "elementary sound of a spoken language;" phoneme; phonetic; phonic; phonics; phono-; pheme; -phemia; Polyphemus; polyphony; preface; profess; profession; professional; professor; prophecy; prophet; prophetic; quadraphonic; symphony; telephone; xylophone.

It might also be the source of: Greek pheme "speech, voice, utterance, a speaking, talk," phōnē "voice, sound" of a human or animal, also "tone, voice, pronunciation, speech," phanai "to speak;" Sanskrit bhanati "speaks;" Latin fari "to say," fabula "narrative, account, tale, story," fama "talk, rumor, report; reputation, public opinion; renown, reputation;" Armenian ban, bay "word, term;" Old Church Slavonic bajati "to talk, tell;" Old English boian "to boast," ben "prayer, request;" Old Irish bann "law."

    Advertisement

    Trends of affable

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    amiable
    late 14c., "kindly, friendly," also "worthy of love or admiration," from Old French amiable "pleasant, kind; worthy to be loved" (12c.), from Late Latin amicabilis "friendly," from Latin amicus "friend, loved one," noun use of an adjective, "friendly, loving," from amare "to love
    cordial
    c. 1400, "of or pertaining to the heart" (a sense now obsolete or rare, replaced by cardiac), from Medieval Latin cordialis "of or for the heart," from Latin cor (genitive cordis) "heart," from PIE root *kerd- "heart." Meaning "heartfelt, proceeding from the heart as the supposed
    genial
    1560s, "pertaining to marriage," from Latin genialis "pleasant, festive," originally "pertaining to marriage rites," from genius "guardian spirit," with here perhaps a special sense of "tutelary deity of a married couple," from PIE *gen(e)-yo-, from root *gene- "give birth, beget
    civilize
    French civil (adj.), from Latin civilis "relating to a citizen, relating to public life, befitting a citizen; popular, affable...
    incivility
    not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + civilis "relating to a citizen, relating to public life, befitting a citizen; popular, affable...
    civilian
    the civil law," created from Latin civilis "relating to a citizen, relating to public life, befitting a citizen; popular, affable...
    dangerous
    c. 1200, daungerous, "difficult to deal with, arrogant, severe" (the opposite of affable), from Anglo-French dangerous, Old...
    conjure
    late 13c., "command on oath;" c. 1300, "summon by a sacred name, invoke by incantation or magic," from Old French conjurer "invoke, conjure" (12c.) and directly from Latin coniurare "to swear together; conspire," from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see con-) + iurare "
    adequate
    1610s, "equal to what is needed or desired, sufficient," from Latin adaequatus "equalized," past participle of adaequare "to make equal to, to level with," from ad "to" (see ad-) + aequare "make level," from aequus "equal, even" (see equal (adj.)). The sense is of being "equal to
    focus
    1640s, "point of convergence," from Latin focus "hearth, fireplace" (also, figuratively, "home, family"), which is of unknown origin. Used in post-classical times for "fire" itself; taken by Kepler (1604) in a mathematical sense for "point of convergence," perhaps on analogy of t

    Share affable

    Advertisement
    Trending
    Dictionary entries near affable
    Advertisement