vitulus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈwɪ.tʊ.ɫʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈviː.tu.lus]^[1]

Forms

vitulus m (genitive vitulī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *wet-elo- (“yearling, calf”), from Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“year”), the root of vetus “old”, so “yearling”.^[2][1] Cognate with Umbrian vitlu (“calf”), Ancient Greek ἔταλον (étalon, “yearling”) and Albanian viç (“calf”), and English wether is from the same root.^[2][3][1] Isidore derived it from viriditās, the green age of youth.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cato.^[2][5] Varro distinguishes vitulus and vitula as the first age of cattle.^[3] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was the young of cattle, a calf, especially a bull calf, as opposed to vitula “heifer calf”, and was often sacrificed, as Virgil's calf and Horace's.^[3][6] Vitulus marīnus was the seal, and it was used of the young of elephants and whales in Pliny.^[3][7]

The Appendix Probi rejects the syncopated viclus.^[8] Its diminutive vitellus gave Old French veel and English veal in the early 14th century, and calfskin parchment gave English vellum.^[9] The ancients also tied the name Italia to vitulus.^[6]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.^[2][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro distinguishes bull and heifer calves.^[3][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of young elephants.^[7][5]
• early 14th century – English veal is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A calf (male where distinguished).^[3]
2. vitulus marīnus, a seal.^[3]
3. The young of other animals (elephants, whales).^[3][7]

Word family

• vitellus

Related words

• vitula
• vetus
• English veal
• English vellum

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Appendix Probi, a late antique list of correct and censured Latin word forms ("calida non calda"); ed. H. Keil, Grammatici Latini IV, Leipzig 1864, 197–199.
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com