vitabundus

Forms

vītābundus (feminine vītābunda, neuter vītābundum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vītō (“to avoid”) + -bundus (“adjective suffix”).^[2][1] The origin of the verb is disputed: Walde and Hofmann took it from a preverb meaning “apart” and a verb of going, while de Vaan thinks a connection with invītus (“unwilling”) more probable, from Proto-Indo-European *uih₁-to- (“wished for”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Sallust,^[4] who has it in the Jugurthine War of a commander leading his army through wooded country as though trying to slip away (quasi vītābundus).^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word is rare: Lewis and Short note that Cicero and Caesar never use it.^[6] Sallust and Livy also construe it with an accusative, “keeping clear of” something: Livy's vītābundus castra hostium describes a march that avoided the enemy camp.^[6][5] Tacitus applies it to speech, of people who talked round Vespasian's name so as not to say it.^[5][7]

Medieval writers kept it: William of Malmesbury uses it of fire that escapes by twisting turns,^[8] and glossaries explain it as metuēns “fearing”^[7] or as vītābilis.^[8]

Timeline

• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of evasive movement, with or without an accusative.^[9][4]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy writes vītābundus castra hostium, “avoiding the enemy camp”.^[6][4]
• AD 98–115 – Tacitus uses it of avoiding a name in conversation.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Taking evasive action, dodging, trying to slip away.^[2][9]
2. (with accusative) Avoiding, keeping clear of (a place or enemy) as one moves.^[2][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b 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. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.