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Etymology and origin of the Latin word vector

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 180–102 BC, Lucilius
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*weǵʰ-e/o-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin veho
Latin conveho
Latin reveho
Latin aveho
Latin eveho
Latin vector
English vector
Latin deveho
Latin subveho
Latin vecto
Latin vehiculum
French véhicule
English vehicle

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈwɛk.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈvɛk.tor][1]

Forms

vector m (genitive vectōris, feminine vectrīx); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vehō (“to carry”) + -tor.[2][1] De Vaan traces vehō to Proto-Italic *weχ-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ-e/o- (“to carry”).[3] He compares Umbrian arveitu (“to add”) and Sanskrit वहति (váhati, “to carry, convey”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Lucilius, who praises a horse: not handsome, an ambler, an excellent carrier.[3][4][2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.[5] It is a bearer, most often an animal: Ovid's ass that carries Silenus, Seneca's bull that carried the girl.[5] Statius calls Charon the last ferryman, and Apuleius calls Mercury the conveyor of songs.[2] It is also a passenger on a ship, and a rider on horseback or in a vehicle, as in Propertius.[2] English took it as vector for a line in astronomy in 1704 and for a quantity with magnitude and direction in 1846.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of a horse.[2][3][4]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of a rider.[2][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the ass of Silenus.[5][4]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of Mercury.[2][4]
  • 1704 – English uses it in astronomy.[6]
  • 1846 – English uses it in mathematics.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. One that carries or transports, a bearer, especially an animal; a boatman; one who brings something.[2][5][1]
  2. A passenger on a ship; a rider.[2][7][1]
  3. (New Latin, mathematics) A vector.[1][6]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Vector.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/vector. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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