Amiable

Amiable - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

A'MIABLE, a. [L. amabilis; from amo, to love.]

1. Lovely; worth of love; deserving of affection; applied usually to persons. But in Psa 84:1, there is an exception, ""How amiable are the tabernacles, O Lord.""

2. Pretending or showing love.

Lay amiable siege to the honesty of this Ford's wife.

But this use is not legitimate.

a'-mi-a-b'-l (yedhidh, "beloved"): Applied to the tabernacle or tent of meeting "How amiable ("lovely" the Revised Version, margin) are thy tabernacles" (Ps 84:1), the plural having reference to the subdivisions and appurtenances of the sanctuary (compare Ps 68:35). The adjective is rendered "amiable" in the sense of the French amiable, lovely; but the usage of the Hebrew word requires it to be understood as meaning "dear," "beloved." Compare "so amiable a prospect" (Sir T. Herbert), "They keep their churches so cleanly and amiable" (Howell, 1644). "What made the tabernacle of Moses lovely was not the outside, which was very mean, but what was within" (John Gill). See TABERNACLE.

M. O. Evans