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vacivus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word vacivus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 200 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin vacō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vaco
Latin vacivus
From the same root
Latin supervacaneus ← vaco

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [waˈkiː.wʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [vaˈt͡ʃiː.vus][1]

Forms

vacīvus (feminine vacīva, neuter vacīvum, adverb vacīvē); first/second-declension adjective[1] Plautus and Terence usually write vocīvus, the older form.[2][3][4] vacīvus is found in Gellius.[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin vacō (“to be empty”) + -īvus.[2][3] De Vaan reconstructs an adjective Proto-Italic *wako- (“empty”), from which the verb and the adjective vacuus were made;[4] the spelling with ⟨vo-⟩ shows a change of ⟨va-⟩ to ⟨vo-⟩ in the syllable before the stress.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus (c. 250–184 BC) uses it of an empty house: ut bene vocivas aedis fecisti mihi!, “how nicely you have emptied the house for me!”[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Plautus plays on the image, telling Pseudolus to empty the “house of his ears” so that his words may move in, and uses it of ears free to listen.[2] With a genitive it meant free from something (time free of work in Terence) or lacking it (lacking strength).[2][3] Lewis & Short call it ante-classical,[3] and the OLD notes that vacuus replaced it.[2] Gellius uses it for “superfluous”, explaining an old sense of superesse.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses vocīvus of an empty house.[2][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of free time.[2][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius uses the form vacīvus.[2][4][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Empty, vacant, unoccupied (of a house, of ears ready to listen).[2][3][1]
  2. (with genitive) Free from; destitute of.[2][3][1]
  3. Superfluous, redundant.[2]

Word family

  • vacīvitās

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Vacivus.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/vacivus. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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