vicia

Forms

vicia f (genitive viciae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *wikiā.^[1] De Vaan explains it as a “winding plant” and suggests that it continues the root of vinciō (“to bind”) without its nasal, *uik-;^[2] Etymonline and the OLD also mention a possible link with that verb.^[3][4] Wiktionary gives as alternatives Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to curve, bend”) or *weh₁y- (“to turn, wind”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cato's work on farming.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is the vetch, grown as fodder, Vicia sativa, and also a vetch pea.^[4] Lewis & Short cite it in the farming writers Varro, Columella and Palladius, and in Pliny the Elder, Virgil's Georgics and Ovid's Fasti.^[6] In Church Latin it is a climbing leguminous plant, the vetch.^[7] Through Anglo-French veche it became English vetch, and Dutch wikke and German Wicke are borrowed from it.^[3]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato, on farming.^[2][6][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro, on farming.^[6][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil, in the Georgics.^[6][5]
• mid-14th century – English vetch, through Anglo-French.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Vetch, grown as fodder; a vetch pea.^[4][6][1]

Related words

• vinciō
• English vetch

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson