Etymologically
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vendo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈweːn.doː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvɛn.do][1]

Forms

vēndō (present infinitive vēndere, perfect active vēndidī, supine vēnditum); third conjugation[1] A perfect vendēdī is found in a legal document.[2]

Etymology

It is contracted from ⟨vēnum dō⟩ “to give for sale” (also ⟨vēnundō⟩), from vēnum, the accusative of vēnus “sale”, and dō “to give”.[2][3][4][5] De Vaan derives vēnus from Proto-Italic *wesno-, from Proto-Indo-European *wes-no- (“price”), and compares Sanskrit वस्न (vasná, “price”), Ancient Greek ὦνος (ônos, “price”) and Hittite ušnii̯e/a- (“to put up for sale”).[4] Its passive is usually supplied by vēneō “to be sold”.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius.[4] Plautus has ubi quās mercīs vēxeram omnīs ut voluī vēndidī, “when I had sold all the goods I had brought, as I wanted”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Vēndere is “to sell” goods, and also to sell one's services or skills for a fee, especially those that should be given free.[2][3][1] Pejoratively it means to sell a favour or privilege for a bribe, “to betray for money” (Cicero: one general lost his army, alter vēndidit, “the other sold his”).[2][3] Causatively it is “to recommend, cry up”, to find buyers or admirers for something.[2][5]

Döderlein says that in vēndere the disposal of the thing is the main idea, the price secondary.[6] Church Latin glosses it “sell, put up for sale”.[7] English vend dates from the 1620s.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Used by Naevius.[4][8]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: omnīs ut voluī vēndidī.[2][8]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato tells the owner to hold an auction: vendat oleum, “let him sell the oil”.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: alter exercitum perdidit, alter vēndidit.[2][8]
  • 1620s – English vend.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To sell.[2][3][1][7]
  2. To sell (one's services) for a fee.[2]
  3. To sell for a bribe, betray.[2][3][5]
  4. To recommend, cry up, praise.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de