Etymologically
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vescor

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈweːs.kɔr][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvɛs.kor][1]

Forms

vēscor (present infinitive vēscī); third conjugation, deponent, no perfect or supine stems[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *wēs-(s)ke/o- (“to feed, pasture”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“pasture, food”).[2][1] Cognate with Old Irish fess (“food”), Hittite 𒌑𒂊𒅆 (wešai-, “pasture”), Avestan 𐬬𐬁𐬯𐬙𐬭𐬀 (vāstra-, “pasture”) and Old Norse fist (“nourishment”).[2] Walde and Hofmann's *vē-ēscor “to eat off”, from edō, is unconvincing to de Vaan, and Lewis and Short connect ēsca “food”.[2][3] The OLD calls it doubtful.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Pacuvius, whose line quī viget, vēscātur armīs means “let him who is strong make use of arms”.[2][4] Köbler dates Pacuvius 220–130 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

Its oldest sense, in the tragic poets, was to make use of or enjoy something, with the ablative, as Pacuvius' arms and Accius' ancestral rewards.[4] Then it meant to feed on, to eat, as Cicero's Persians who fed on cress and the Pythagoreans forbidden to eat beans, and intransitively to take food, as Virgil's blessed feasting on the grass.[4][6] Cicero has vītālī vēscī aurā “to breathe the air of life”, after Lucretius and Virgil.[6]

In late legal Latin it was to provide food for.[4] It has no Romance descendants.[1]

Timeline

  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of making use of arms.[4][5]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of enjoying rewards.[4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the Persians feeding on cress.[4][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil's blessed feast on the grass.[4][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make use of, enjoy.[4]
  2. To feed on, eat.[4][6]
  3. To take food, eat.[4]
  4. vēscī aurā, to breathe, live.[6]

Word family

  • convēscor

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.