Etymologically
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vivo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈwiː.woː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈviː.vo][1]

Forms

vīvō (present infinitive vīvere, perfect active vīxī, supine vīctum); third conjugation, impersonal in the passive[1] Plautus has the archaic spelling vei-, and Virgil the shortened vīxet for vīxisset.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *gʷīwe/o- (“to live”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *gʷíh₃weti (“to live”).[3][1] The perfect ⟨vīxī⟩ and supine ⟨vīctum⟩ were made by analogy with verbs like fluō, in which the velar seemed to have disappeared.[3][1] Cognate with Oscan bivus (“alive”), Sanskrit जीवति (jī́vati, “lives”), Ancient Greek βίος (bíos, “life”), Old Church Slavonic жити (žiti, “to live”), Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌿𐍃 (qius, “alive”) and Old English cwic (“alive”).[3][2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan's first attestation, and the OLD's earliest citation, is the Law of the Twelve Tables, of living on food.[3][2] Ennius uses it of being alive.[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant to be alive, to live, as in Ennius, and in Plautus to be a certain kind of being.[2] In Plautus things live when they are active, and in Juvenal art seems alive.[2] From Ennius it meant to survive, live on, and in Cicero to live on in memory; in Plautus vīve “farewell”.[2] In Cicero it meant to live in the full sense, to really live, and vīxī “I have lived” a full life.[2] From the Twelve Tables it meant to live on food or other means, and in Varro to make a living.[2] In Plautus it meant to spend one's life in a given way, and in Terence to live for someone.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it also meant to reside.[4] It survives in Italian vivere, French vivre, Spanish vivir and Portuguese viver.[1] English quick “alive” is a cognate, from Old English cwic.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it of living on food.[2]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of being alive.[2][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of spending one's life.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of really living.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be alive, live.[2]
  2. To be active; to seem alive.[2]
  3. To survive, live on.[2]
  4. To live to the full.[2]
  5. To live on (food); to make a living.[2]
  6. To spend one's life (in a way, with someone, in a place).[2]
  7. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To reside.[4]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  5. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de