víctima

Forms

víctima f (plural víctimas)^[1] Juan del Encina writes vítima, and Oudin's dictionary has vítima beside víctima.^[2][3] Vístima is a further variant.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin victima (“animal offered in sacrifice”), a learned word.^[3][4][5][1] The same Latin word was borrowed as French victime about 1485, Portuguese vítima in 1572 and Catalan víctima in 1695.^[6][7][8]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[9][6] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *wiktV-mā- and gives two options: an “exchange” with the gods, from the stem of vicis (“turn, change”), or a link with Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to select, separate”), the root perhaps also of Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃 (weihs, “holy”).^[9] Wiktionary takes the second view.^[1] The OLD compares the ending with that of sacrima.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alfonso X's General Estoria (c. 1275) explains the term for the animal of sacrifice under the old law, d'este nombre víctima que deve seer allí llamado “of this name víctima by which it must be called there”.^[2][11] The fourth part (c. 1280) speaks of los sacrificios de los ganados que llamades uictimas “the sacrifices of cattle that you call victims”.^[2] Corominas, who did not know these, first records it in Palencia's vocabulary of 1490; it is missing in Nebrija and Covarrubias.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Until the 18th century the word named a living offering killed in a sacrifice, pagan or Christian: a record of 1595 from Mexico City speaks of the victim to be offered as a burnt offering, and one of 1716 from Guatemala of the bloodless victim, Christ.^[12] The Academy's 1817 dictionary added a metaphorical sense, “one who risks himself for another”, and its 1843 edition one who suffers harm through another's fault.^[13][14] By 1899 these were defined as “person”.^[15] The DLE now adds harm or death by accident, and the legal sense of the person who suffers the effects of a crime.^[5]

The colloquial phrase hacerse la víctima means “to play the victim”.^[5][16] In Puerto Rico víctima is also the person whom someone tries to get to take drugs.^[17] Cebuano and Tagalog borrowed the word as biktima.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1275 – Alfonso X's General Estoria, part one.^[2][11]
• 1481–1496 – Juan del Encina writes vítima.^[2]
• 1490 – Palencia's vocabulary: Corominas's first record.^[3][4]
• 1571 – first record from the Americas, in Costa Rica: sacrificios de vítimas umanas “sacrifices of human victims”.^[12]
• 1817 – the Academy adds a metaphorical sense.^[13]
• 1843 – the Academy adds the sense of one who suffers harm through another's fault.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person or animal sacrificed or meant for sacrifice.^[5]
2. A person who takes a serious risk for the sake of another.^[5]
3. A person harmed through another's fault or by chance; a victim: Fue víctima de un robo.^[5][1]
4. A person who dies through another's fault or by accident: El incendio no causó víctimas.^[5]
5. (law) A person who suffers the harmful effects of a crime.^[5]

Word family

• victimario

Related words

• Latin victima
• Portuguese vítima

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. víctima
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 803
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. víctima
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. víctima
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3523
8. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 9, 274
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. víctima
12. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. víctima
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 890
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 742
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 1018
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. víctima
17. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. víctima