Etymologically
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visus

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Forms

vīsus m (genitive vīsūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

It is from videō “to see” with the suffix of action nouns -tus.[2][1] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Italic *weissus or *wissus, from Proto-Indo-European *wéydˢtus, from the root Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”), and compares Old Irish fius (“knowledge”).[1] Isidore says it is named because it is livelier and swifter than the other senses.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Lucretius, of the faculty of sight and of a thing seen.[2] Köbler's first source is Cicero; he dates Lucretius 96–55 BC and Cicero 81–43 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant the faculty of seeing, sight, as Lucretius' vīsus oculōrum, and in Virgil a glance or gaze.[2][5] It meant a thing seen, a sight, in Virgil a vision in a dream, and visible form or appearance.[2] Pliny reports from Cicero that women with double pupils harm by their gaze.[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant sight.[7] In Medieval Latin it meant a vision or dream, a legal view or inspection, and in England the view of frankpledge.[8][9] It survives in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese viso and Old French vis “face”.[1]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of sight.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the gaze.[6][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a vision.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The sense of sight, vision.[2]
  2. A look, glance, gaze.[2]
  3. A sight; a vision, apparition.[2]
  4. Appearance, aspect.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A legal inspection, view.[8]

Word family

  • *vīsāticum

Usage notes

Vīsus, -a, -um is also the perfect participle of videō, as in Caesar's prō vīsō renūntiāre “to report as seen”.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ 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