subtilis

Latin

Etymology

From sub + tēla (“a web”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /subˈtiː.lis/, [s̠ʊpˈt̪iːlʲɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /subˈti.lis/, [subˈt̪iːlis]

Adjective

subtīlis (neuter subtīle, comparative subtīlior, superlative subtīlissimus, adverb subtīliter); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. fine, thin, slender
2. precise, accurate, keen
3. (of speech) plain, unadorned, simple

Declension

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	subtīlis	subtīle		subtīlēs	subtīlia
genitive	subtīlis			subtīlium
dative	subtīlī			subtīlibus
accusative	subtīlem	subtīle		subtīlēs subtīlīs	subtīlia
ablative	subtīlī			subtīlibus
vocative	subtīlis	subtīle		subtīlēs	subtīlia

Derived terms

Derived terms

• subtīlia
• subtīliloquus
• subtīliō
• subtīlitās
• subtīliter

Descendants

• Aromanian: suptsãri, subtsãre
• Catalan: sotil, subtil
• Dutch: subtiel
• Old French: sotil, soutil, subtil
  • → Middle English: sotil, subtile, subtyl, sutile, subtil, sotell, sutille, subtille, sutyll, sutil, sotell, suptyl, sutill
    • English: subtle, subtil, subtile, suttle
    • Scots: suttle
  • French: subtil, subtile
• Friulian: sutîl
• Galician: sutil
• German: subtil
• Italian: sottile
• Megleno-Romanian: subtzǫri
• Old French: sotil, soutil
• Occitan: sotil
• Piedmontese: sutil
• Polish: subtelny
• Portuguese: subtil, sutil
• Romanian: subțire
• Sicilian: suttili
• Old Spanish: sotil
  • Spanish: sutil, sotil (obsolete), subtil
• Swedish: subtil
• Venetan: sutìl, sutìlo, sotìl

References

• “subtilis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “subtilis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• subtilis in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• subtilis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • sound knowledge; scholarship: doctrina exquisita, subtilis, elegans
    
  • good taste; delicate perception: iudicium subtile, elegans, exquisitum, intellegens
    
  • the plain style: verborum tenuitias, oratio subtilis