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vinaceus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word vinaceus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
234–149 BC, Cato
Ultimate origin
Latin (vīnum)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vinum
English wine
French vin
Latin vinetum
Latin vinarius
Latin vinaceus
Latin vinosus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [wiːˈnaː.ke.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [viˈnaː.t͡ʃe.us][1]

Forms

vīnāceus (feminine vīnācea, neuter vīnāceum); first/second-declension adjective[1] Also spelled vīnācius.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin vīnum (“wine”) + -āceus.[2][3] Vīnum goes back to Proto-Italic *wīno- and Proto-Indo-European *ueih1-(ō)n (“vine; wine”), an n-stem that de Vaan, following Beekes, takes from the root “to weave, wrap”, the vine being “the weaving one”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it first in Cato,[4] who uses it as a noun for the refuse of the wine press: dolia quo vinacios condat, “jars to store the grape refuse in”.[2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means of or belonging to wine or the grape.[3][1] Most often it is a noun: in the plural, or as a feminine singular, the refuse of wine-pressing, the skins and stones, as in Cato, Varro and Columella;[2][3] in the neuter, a grape pip, as in Cicero's wonder at the force ex acini vinaceo, “from the pip of a grape”, that produces great trunks and branches.[2] Lewis and Short give it as a grape-stone in Cato and Columella and a grape skin in Varro.[3] Ecclesiastical Latin also has the neuter as a wine cup.[5]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of the refuse of the wine press.[2][4][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of grape skins.[3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a grape pip.[2][6]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of grape-stones.[3][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or belonging to wine or the grape.[3][1][5]

Noun

  1. The refuse from wine-pressing: grape skins and stones, husks.[2][3]
  2. A grape pip, grape-stone.[2][3][1]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A wine cup.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Vinaceus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/vinaceus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·