vehiculum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [weˈ(ɦ)ɪ.kʊ.ɫũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [veˈiː.ku.lum]^[1]

Forms

vehiculum n (genitive vehiculī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin veho (“to carry, convey”) + -culum.^[2][1] Wiktionary allows that it may continue Proto-Italic *weɣitlom, from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ-í-tlom, which may also have given Sanskrit वहित्र (vahitra, “vessel”).^[1] Varro explained it from carrying beans or other things, or from wicker.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it in the Aulularia: a character asks to be given carriages to ride in.^[4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was a wheeled vehicle for people or goods, a wagon or cart, as in Cicero and Livy.^[2][6] It was used too for ships and, in Lactantius, for an animal that carries a rider.^[7][4] Augustine calls the sound of the voice the vehicle of the word.^[7][4] Wiktionary also records the sense of a reaping machine.^[1]

In medieval Latin it could mean a horse.^[8] English vehicle came from French in the 1610s, first for a medium through which a drug is given.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of carriages.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a vehicle.^[6][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine calls sound the vehicle of the word.^[7][5]
• 1610s – English vehicle is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A means of transport; a vehicle, wagon, cart.^[2][4]
2. A ship or boat.^[7][1]
3. A reaping machine.^[1]
4. Figuratively, a bearer, carrier.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) A horse.^[8]

Related words

• vectābilis
• vectābulum
• vectārius
• vectātiō
• vectīgal
• vectīgāliārius
• vectīgālis
• vectiō
• vectitātus
• vectō
• vehō
• English vehicle

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Marcus Terentius Varro, De lingua Latina (text of The Latin Library; book and paragraph numbers as there).
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com