Etymologically
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vector

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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