vos

Forms

vōs ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *wōs (“you”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *uōs, originally the stressed accusative; the old nominative ⟨*iuH(s)⟩ was replaced by it, apparently already in Proto-Italic.^[2][1] The genitive ⟨vestrum⟩ was first the genitive plural of vester and was later replaced by ⟨vestrī⟩.^[2]

Cognate with Faliscan ues, Paelignian uus, Sanskrit वः (vaḥ), Avestan vō and Old Church Slavonic вы (vy).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the Twelve Tables and in Livius Andronicus.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Vōs is the plural of tū: “you, ye”.^[3][1] Of the genitives, vestrum is usually partitive and vestrī objective;^[3][2] Livius Andronicus and Plautus also have vostrōrum and vostrārum.^[3][2] With cum it forms vōbīscum.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – Used in the Twelve Tables.^[2]
• c. 280–200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses the genitive vostrōrum.^[3][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses the genitive vestrī.^[2][4]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. you (plural), ye.^[3][1]

Word family

• vester
• vōbīscum

Related words

• tū
• nōs

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de