vectigalis

Forms

vectīgālis (neuter vectīgāle, comparative vectīgālior); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] An inscription has the masculine nominative vectīgal.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from a lost noun Proto-Italic *vectīgo- (“fee for vehicle-driving”) with the suffix -ālis; its neuter, shortened, became the noun vectīgal (“tax, revenue”).^[3][1][2] De Vaan, following Dunkel, analyses ⟨*vectīgo-⟩ as a compound of a noun Proto-Indo-European *u̯ekti- (“levy, yield”), from the root of vehō (“to carry”), and the root of agō (“to drive”); the OLD likewise suggests ⟨*vectis⟩ and ⟨agō⟩ with a question mark.^[3][2] ⟨vehō⟩ continues Proto-Indo-European *ueǵh-e/o- (“to carry”), cognate with Sanskrit वहति (váhati, “carries”); ⟨agō⟩ continues Proto-Indo-European *h2eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,^[4] who writes to his brother that what the Greeks find bitterest is being subject to tax.^[2] An inscribed law already speaks of private land subject to dues.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Of land it means “yielding taxes or dues”, and of persons and cities “subject to tax, tributary”.^[2][5] It also means “of taxes or rents”, as the jurist Ulpian's action for rent, and of money “raised by taxes”, as Cicero's ten ships built by Miletus from the revenue owed to Rome.^[2] Cicero also has equī vectīgālēs, chariot horses supplied under contract, a use the OLD calls obscure in origin.^[2] The elder Seneca uses it for “bringing in income”: cruelty was profitable to that man.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “of taxes, subject to taxes, taxable, taxed”.^[6] In medieval sources the noun is a tributary of a church.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of tax-paying Greeks and tax money.^[2][4]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian of an action for rent.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Yielding taxes; subject to tax, tributary, taxable.^[2][5][1][6]
2. Of taxes or rents; raised by taxes.^[2][5][1]
3. Bringing in income, profitable.^[2]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A tributary of a church.^[7]

Word family

• vectīgal

Related words

• vehō
• agō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill