vece

Forms

vece f (plural veci)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vicem (“change, turn, place”), the accusative of a Latin noun that has no recorded nominative singular and is listed under its genitive;^[2][3][4][5] DELI and Devoto–Oli set up an unused nominative *vix.^[2][3][4][5] It is the popular form beside the learned vice.^[6][7] The same Latin word gave French fois, Occitan vetz, Spanish vez and Portuguese vez; the f of the French word has not been explained.^[8][9] Latin built vicissim (“in turn”), vicissitūdō (“alternation”) and vicārius (“substitute”) on it, the source of Italian vicario.^[5][8]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *wik- and Proto-Indo-European *uik- (“a turn”), and suggests a root meaning “to tie, turn”, that of vinciō (“to bind”).^[5] Nocentini compares Ancient Greek εἴκω (eíkō, “to give way”) and Old High German wehsal (“exchange”), the source of German Wechsel.^[8][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Dante's in vece di, “in place of”, in 1300–1313.^[2] DEI also finds in vece in Dante for “in exchange, instead”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th and 15th centuries vece could also be a person who stands for another, a deputy: Pucci calls the pope Vicar' di Dio al mondo e vece.^[12][11] A 14th-century writer, Sigoli, used in vece di for “in the form of”.^[11]

The plural veci, the office or duties of another, is found in sostenere le veci before 1729 in A. M. Salvini and in fare le veci in 1746.^[2] Caro (16th century) has divisare le veci, to share out each person's part of the work.^[11][4] The literary sense “change, alternation” is a Latinism of Foscolo (1807) and Manzoni (1821): Manzoni's Quando con vece assidua / Cadde, risorse e giacque, “when in constant turn he fell, rose and lay”.^[2][12] The phrase in vece was written as one word, invece, by 1785.^[8]

Timeline

• 1300–1313 – Dante uses in vece di.^[2]
• Before 1729 – Sostenere le veci is recorded in Salvini.^[2]
• 1746 – Fare le veci di is recorded.^[2]
• 1785 – Invece is recorded as one word.^[8]
• 1807 – Foscolo uses vece for “change, vicissitude”.^[2]
• 1821 – Manzoni uses it the same way.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) Change, alternation.^[13][14][6]
2. (usually plural) The function or office one carries out in place of another;^{[13][3][6][14]} fare le veci di, to act for, stand in for: In assenza del sindaco, l'assessore anziano ne fa le veci.^{[13][3][6][14]}
3. (literary) The task given to each person.^[3][4][15]
4. In in vece di, in mia vece and similar phrases, “in place of”, instead of.^[14][3][15]
5. (regional) In colture a vece, crop rotation of wheat with fallow.^[4][16]

Word family

• invece

Related words

• vice-
• vicenda
• vicario
• Latin vicis

Usage notes

Zingarelli dates the word to about 1260, GRADIT to before 1313.^[14][13] The written form follows the phrase: invece as one word before a noun, pronoun or verb, but in vece mia or in mia vece with a possessive and in quella vece with the demonstrative.^[4] The 19th-century purist Arlìa rejected in vece a and in vece con.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1040
8. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3998
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana