Etymologically
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vitium

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈwɪ.ti.ũː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvit.t͡si.um][1]

Forms

vitium n (genitive vitiī or vitī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *witio- (“deviation, fault”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *(d)ui-tio- (“apart, wrong”), a derivative of the word for “two”, as Walde–Hofmann proposed.[2][1] The Oxford Latin Dictionary calls the origin doubtful, and Lewis and Short connected it with vieō, so first “a twist”.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the Twelve Tables.[2] Plautus uses it of a fault in goods for sale.[3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was a defect, fault or shortcoming, as Cicero's bodily defect, a flaw in a material thing, as in a roof, and an injurious quality.[3][5] It was a moral failing or vice, and the violation of a woman's chastity.[3] Döderlein calls it the general word for a fault, against menda, a natural blemish.[6]

Its derivatives were vitiāre “to spoil” and vituperō “to find fault with”.[2] Through Old French it gave English vice, “moral fault”.[7] It survives as Italian vizio and Spanish vicio.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of faulty goods.[3][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a bodily defect.[5][8]
  • c. 1300 – English vice “moral fault” is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A defect, fault, shortcoming.[3][4]
  2. A flaw (in a thing).[3][1]
  3. A moral failing, vice; a crime, sin.[3][1]
  4. The violation of a woman's chastity.[3]
  5. A disease (of plants).[1]

Word family

  • vitiō
  • vitiōsus
  • vituperō

References

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