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transveho

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word transveho

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 50 BC, Caesar
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*ueǵh-e/o-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin veho
Latin conveho
Latin reveho
Latin transveho
Latin aveho
Latin eveho
Latin perveho
Latin vectura
French voiture
Latin vector
English vector
Latin vecto
Latin deveho
Latin subveho
Latin circumvehor
Latin praetervehor
Latin vehiculum
French véhicule
English vehicle
Latin praevehor

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈtrãːs.we.(ɦ)oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈtranz.ve.o][1]

Forms

trānsvehō (present infinitive trānsvehere, perfect active trānsvē̆xī, supine trānsvectum); third conjugation[1] It is also written trāvehō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin trāns- + vehō (“to carry”).[2][1] De Vaan traces vehō to Proto-Italic *weχ-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ueǵh-e/o- (“to carry”).[4] Cognate with Sanskrit वहति (váhati, “carries”), Lithuanian vèžti (“to convey”) and Old High German wegan (“to move”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is in Caesar, who asks how many soldiers had been brought across the sea.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to carry or convey to the other side, often over water,[2][3] and Pliny the Elder has a ship carried on men's shoulders across the Alps.[2] The passive means to sail or ride across: in a speech by Caelius people said that someone had sat on a dolphin and been carried over like Arion.[2] Pliny uses it of the Tigris passing through a lake, and Tacitus of time, “although the summer was past”.[2] In ceremonies it is to carry past in a triumphal procession, as the bronze in Livy, and in the passive to ride past in a formal procession:[2] Tacitus describes Britannicus and Nero riding past at the circus games.[2] Church Latin has it as to carry over, convey, transport.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar, of troops brought across the sea.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of spoils carried in a triumph.[2][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of a ship carried over the Alps.[2][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of time passing and of a procession.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To carry across, convey to the other side, transport.[2][3][1]
  2. (passive) To sail, ride or travel across;[2][1] of time, to pass by.[2][1]
  3. To carry past in a triumphal procession;[2] (passive) to ride past in a procession.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Transveho.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/transveho. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·