veto

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈwɛ.toː], [ˈwɛ.tɔ]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvɛː.to]^[1]

Forms

vetō (present infinitive vetāre, perfect active vetuī, supine vetitum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain: the OLD and Lewis & Short call it doubtful.^[2][3] The older form is votō, used in the manuscripts of Plautus.^[2][3] Wiktionary suggests it is perhaps inherited from Proto-Italic *wotāō or *wotaō, the first from Proto-Indo-European *woth₂-eh₂-yeti, the second from Proto-Indo-European *woth₂-éye-ti.^[1] Georges compared Greek Ancient Greek ἐτώσιος (etṓsios, “vain, fruitless”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it, in the form votō, to forbid something, as in “what I had forbidden, you avoided”.^[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is to forbid an action or to forbid someone to do something, with an infinitive, an accusative and infinitive or nē.^[2][6] In politics it meant to reject a proposal: tribes that voted against a law were said to vetāre, and vetō “I forbid” was the formula of the tribunes of the plebs blocking a measure.^[2][6] Things too could forbid or prevent, such as an oak blocking the sun in Seneca's tragedy.^[2] Döderlein distinguishes vetāre, forbidding by law, opposite iubēre, from interdīcere, forbidding by official authority.^[7] The perfect vetāvī is poetic and late, as in the Vulgate.^[3]

English veto was taken from the tribunes' formula in the 1620s.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the form votō.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy reports the tribunes' formula vetō.^[6][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses the perfect vetāvī.^[3][5]
• 1620s – Borrowed into English as veto.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To forbid, prohibit an action.^[2][3]
2. To forbid someone to do something.^[2]
3. To reject a proposal, vetō, the formula of a tribune's veto.^[2][6]
4. Of things, to be an obstacle to, prevent.^[2]
5. To advise against.^[3][1]

Related words

• English veto

Usage notes

Iubēre and vetāre are the usual pair for what a law orders and forbids, as in Quintilian's lex iubet aut vetat.^[6][7]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com