Etymologically
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vehiculum

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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]
  • 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