Etymologically
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vincio

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈwɪŋ.ki.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvin̠ʲ.t͡ʃi.o][1]

Forms

vinciō (present infinitive vincīre, perfect active vīnxī, supine vīnctum); fourth conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *wink-(e/o-) (“to tie, bind”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ui-n-k-, a nasal present of Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to bend, turn”).[2][1] The nasal spread from the present to the perfect and participle.[2] Umbrian preuiślatu (“let him tie”) is a cognate.[2][3] vincō “to conquer” and vicia “vetch” may share the root.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the Twelve Tables.[2] Plautus orders someone to be bound with a cord or fetters.[3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was to fasten with bonds, as Caesar's man bound with chains and Virgil's hands tied behind the back, to bind or encircle with clothing, and to hold things together, as Cato's jars bound with lead.[3][4] It was to join together, and figuratively to fetter the body or the mind, or to restrain.[3][1] Döderlein groups it with nectō, fettering, against ligō, binding together.[5]

Its noun vinculum “bond, chain” is from it.[2] Late Latin pervinca “periwinkle”, perhaps from pervincīre, gave English periwinkle.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[3][7]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato binds jars with lead.[3][7]
  • c. 1500 – English periwinkle is recorded.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To bind, tie up, fetter.[3][8]
  2. To lace, fasten; to encircle.[3][1]
  3. To hold together; to join.[3]
  4. To fetter, restrain (the body, faculties).[3]
  5. To surround, guard.[1]

Word family

  • circumvinciō
  • dēvinciō
  • ēvinciō
  • pervinca
  • praevinciō
  • revinciō
  • vīnctiō
  • vīnctor
  • vīnctūra
  • vīnctus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press