vicus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈwiː.kʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈviː.kus]^[1]

Forms

vīcus m (genitive vīcī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *weikos (“settlement”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyḱ- (“settlement”).^[2][1] Old Latin inscriptions have veicus and vecus.^[2][3] Cognate with Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, “house”), Sanskrit वेश (veśá, “house”) and Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃 (weihs, “village”).^[2][3] vīlla is from the same root.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[2] An early law speaks of land “in a city, town or village”.^[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was a group of dwellings, a village, and in a town a block of houses, a street or a quarter, often forming a social or administrative unit.^[3] Streets of Rome bore the name, like the Vīcus Iugārius.^[5] Isidore says the vīcus is so called from its dwellings alone, as it has streets but no walls.^[6]

In the Middle Ages it was a village or settlement of some importance that was not a bishop's city, and in Britain a township or borough.^[7][8] Lewis & Short connect English place names in -wick and -wich with it, through Old English wīc.^[9][8] Its derivative vīcīnus “neighbour” gave English vicinity.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of villages burned in Bithynia.^[3][4]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore explains it as a place with streets but no walls.^[6][4]
• 1550s – English vicinity is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A village, a group of dwellings.^[3]
2. A block of houses, a street, a quarter (in a town).^[3]
3. (Medieval Latin) A settlement, township, borough.^[7][8]

Word family

• vīcīna
• vīcīnālis
• vīcīnē
• vīcīnia
• vīcīnitās
• vīcīnor
• vīcīnus
• vīculus
• vīlla

Related words

• English vicinity

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com