Etymologically
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vietus

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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]
  • 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