in-, not, non, ef-, outward, -fab, to utter, 語源的にはfable, phoneと同じ。
英語の語源
ineffable
ineffable: [15] Ineffable literally means ‘that cannot be spoken’. Its ultimate source was the Latin verb fārī ‘speak’, which has also given English fable, fame, fate, etc. Addition of the prefix ex- ‘out’ produced effārī ‘speak out’, from which the adjective ineffābilis was derived. In 19th-century English the word was used as a plural noun, like unmentionables, as a humorous euphemism for ‘trousers’ or ‘nether garments’: ‘shoes off, ineffables tucked up’, William Cory, Letters and Journals 1867. => fable, fame, fate
ineffable (adj.)
late 14c., from Old French ineffable (14c.) or directly from Latin ineffabilis "unutterable," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + effabilis "speakable," from effari "utter," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + fari "to say, speak," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say" (see fame (n.)). Plural noun ineffables was, for a time, a jocular euphemism for "trousers" (1823). Related: Ineffably.
例文
1. The beauty of a sunset is ineffable .
日没の美しさは形容しがたい。
2.The terror had at long intervals given place to a feeling of an almost ineffable sweetness.
という度肝を抜く感覚は、時には何とも言えない甘い感覚に席を譲ってしまう。
3.They threw this eager vitality of theirs into a vehement striving after the ineffable .
彼らは彼らのこのような情熱を表現できないものへの強い追求に注ぎ込んだ。
4.She sighed a sigh of ineffable satisfaction,as if her cup of happiness were now full.
彼女は何とも言えないため息をついた。まるで彼女の幸せの杯が注がれているかのようだ。
5.Actually those ineffable parts are manifested in practical use.