Etymologically
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vectis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈwɛk.tɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈvɛk.tis][1]

Forms

vectis m (genitive vectis); third declension[1]

Etymology

The OLD derives it from vehō (“to carry”).[2] De Vaan connects it with an older noun ⟨*wekti-⟩ “levy, yield”, which he finds in vectīgal and which was later renewed as ⟨vectis⟩ “bar, lever”; it goes back to Proto-Italic *wekti- and Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to carry”).[3] Wiktionary compares Sanskrit ऊढि (ūḍhi).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato,[3] who lists bars among what is needed for an oil press and uses them for ramming earth around planted trees.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a strong bar of wood or metal, especially a lever or crowbar: Caesar has the largest possible stones pushed forward with levers.[2][4] It is the lever of a wine or oil press or of a windlass, and a part of a water organ.[2] It is also a door bar, as in Lucilius and in Virgil's hundred bronze bars that close a gate.[2] Vitruvius has red-hot iron bars shot from ballistas, and Pliny the Elder a kind of ploughshare shaped like a pointed bar.[2] In Medieval Latin it is a stick, and also the penis.[5] Church Latin glosses it bolt, bar, lever, crowbar.[6]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato of oil-press bars.[2][3][7]
  • 2nd century BC – Lucilius of a door bar.[2][7]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of levers.[4][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of bronze door bars.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A strong bar, lever, crowbar, handspike; a carrying pole.[2][4][1][6]
  2. The lever of a press or windlass.[2]
  3. A door bar, bolt.[2][1][6]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A stick; the penis.[5]

Word family

  • vectiārius

Usage notes

Vectis, a feminine noun, is the Latin name of the Isle of Wight, in Pliny the Elder and Suetonius.[2][4]

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 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 d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de