vietus

Forms

viētus (feminine viēta, neuter viētum); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2] Horace scans it as two syllables.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin vieō (“to plait, weave”): the OLD and Georges take it as the participle of that verb,^[1][2] while Gaffiot and Köbler refer it to viēscō (“to shrivel”).^[3][4] De Vaan calls the connection with the verb disputed; if it is a secondary participle, meaning first “plaited, woven” and then “wrinkled”, the inchoative would have been formed with its meaning.^[5] He traces the verb to Proto-Italic *wijeje/o- (“to plait”) and Proto-Indo-European *u̯h₁i-éie- (“to plait”), cognate with Lithuanian výti (“to twist, wind”) and Ancient Greek ἴτυς (ítus, “felloe, rim of a shield”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Terence,^[5][4] in the Eunuchus: hic est vietus vetus veternosus senex (“this is a shrivelled, old, sluggish old man”).^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Cicero, in the Cato Maior, compares the end of life to fruit on trees that is overripe and ready to fall (quasi vietum et caducum).^[6][3] Lucretius uses it of clothing, Columella of figs and Prudentius of the chest;^[2] Varro has it too.^[6] The glossaries explain it as an old man with a withered body and give as its equivalent Ancient Greek τετηκώς (tetēkṓs, “wasted away”).^[7]

In British Medieval Latin it occurs in glosses, in the sense “shrivelled”,^[8] and the humanist Conrad Celtis still used it.^[9] Conte compares Italian vizzo “withered”.^[6]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a shrivelled old man.^[4][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it in his work on farming.^[6][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero compares old age to overripe fruit.^[6][3][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace scans it as two syllables in the Epodes.^[1][4]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of figs.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Shrivelled, wrinkled, withered.^[1][2]
2. (of fruit) Overripe.^[3][6]

Related words

• viēscō
• Italian vizzo

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ 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. ^ Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de