vicesimus

Forms

vīcēsimus (feminine vīcēsima, neuter vīcēsimum); first/second-declension numeral^[1] It is also spelled vīcēnsimus, and vīgēsimus in Varro, Caesar, Sallust and Columella, though not in Cicero.^[2][3] Inscriptions, Plautus and Livy also have the ending -umus.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin vīgintī (“twenty”) + -ēsimus, built on the stem with /k/.^[2][1] De Vaan traces it to *wīkēnsumo-, found in an inscription, with the same Indo-European suffix *-tmHo- as Indo-Iranian, and vīgintī to Proto-Italic *wīkentī and Proto-Indo-European *dui-dḱmt-ih₁ (“twenty”), originally a dual meaning "two tens".^[4] He compares Sanskrit विंशति (viṃśatí-, “twenty”), Ancient Greek εἴκοσι (eíkosi, “twenty”), Doric ϝίκατι (wíkati) and Old Irish fiche (“twenty”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus.^[5] An early inscription records that aediles gave Apollo a twentieth part.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the ordinal "twentieth".^[2][3] As a feminine noun, vīcēsima, sc. pars, it names a five per cent tax: on the freeing of slaves, which the OLD says Gnaeus Manlius introduced in 357 BC; on inheritances, introduced by Augustus in 6 AD; and on goods passing through ports and frontiers.^[2] Cicero asks what home revenue is left except the five per cent tax.^[2] Livy uses it of a twentieth of the grain that Spaniards were forced to sell.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the tax on freeing slaves and of harbour duties.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a share of grain.^[2][5]

Meanings

Numeral

1. Twentieth.^[2][3][1]
2. vīcēsima, a five per cent tax on the freeing of slaves, on inheritances, or on goods in transit.^[2]
3. vīcēsima, a twentieth of one's produce set aside for compulsory sale.^[2]

Related words

• vīgintī

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de