victima

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈwɪk.tɪ.ma]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvik.ti.ma]^[1]

Forms

victima f (genitive victimae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It goes back to Proto-Italic *wiktV-mā-, of uncertain origin.^[2][3] De Vaan offers two possibilities.^[2] If vicis “turn” comes from a root meaning “to turn”, the sense “exchange” could follow, and the victim would be the “exchange” with the gods, from *wikti- “exchange” with the suffix *-mo-.^[2][3] Alternatively, it may belong to Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to select, set apart”), as in Sanskrit विनक्ति (vinákti, “sifts, separates”), and be connected with Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃 (weihs, “holy”), a word of the same religious field, and Pokorny, the OLD and Wiktionary take this view, and Wiktionary relates English witch.^[2][4][5][1] Lewis and Short derived it from the root of vigēre.^[6]

Within Italic, compare Umbrian eveietu, of uncertain meaning.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Naevius onwards,^[2][7] and Plautus uses it for an animal offered in sacrifice.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word meant an animal offered in sacrifice, and victima maior was a full-grown victim.^[5] Georges notes that it covered both sacrifices of atonement and of thanksgiving, and modern scholars distinguish it from hostia.^[8] Figuratively it meant a person sacrificed, as when Cicero says Decius offered himself as a victim for the state, and Horace calls every man a victim of pitiless Orcus.^[5][6]

In Christian Latin it was used of Christ as the sacrificial victim,^[7][9] and in medieval Latin also for an animal for slaughter.^[10] English borrowed it in the mid-15th century as English victim, first meaning a sacrificial animal.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^[2][7]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a sacrificial animal.^[6][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero says Decius made himself a victim for the republic.^[6][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace calls man a victim of Orcus.^[5][7]
• Middle Ages – It also means an animal for slaughter.^[10]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as English victim.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An animal offered in sacrifice, a victim.^[5][6]
2. (figurative) A person sacrificed, a victim.^[5][6]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A sin offering, and Christ as sacrifice.^[9][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) An animal for slaughter.^[10]

Word family

• victimārius
• victimō

Related words

• hostia
• English victim
• English witch

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill