vítima

Forms

vítima f (plural vítimas)^[1] The older spelling was victima: Houaiss's and Cunha's first record of 1572 has victimas, and Morais (1789) and Vieira (1871–1874) head the word so.^[2][3][4][5] A private letter of 1757 already writes vitimas.^[6]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin victima (“sacrificial animal”), first recorded in 1572.^[2][3][1] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[7]

The origin of the Latin word is not settled.^[8][9] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *wiktVmā and offers two explanations: from the stem of vicis (“turn, change”), so that the victim was an “exchange” with the gods, or from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to select, separate”), a root meaning “to sift” in Indo-Iranian; on the second view 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃 (weihs, “holy”) may belong to the same family of religious words.^[9] Wiktionary follows the second explanation.^[1] The ending recalls that of sacrima, a term of the same field.^[10]

The same learned word is Galician vítima, Spanish víctima, Catalan víctima, French victime and Italian vittima.^[1] The Spanish word is recorded from 1490 and the French one from about 1485.^[11][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, of 1572, has the plural victimas, and Cunha gives the original sense as a person or animal sacrificed to the gods.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau still knew only the sacrificial beast, and he explained the word from Latin victoria: the victim was the animal offered after a victory, unlike the hostia, named from the conquered enemy.^[12] He also mentions those who derive it from vincire “to bind”.^[12] Feijó repeats the derivation from victoria.^[13] Morais (1789) adds the person persecuted and sacrificed to another's fury or envy.^[4] Vieira lists the Jewish sacrifices and, in theology, Christ offered for the salvation of mankind, and the figurative senses.^[5] Cunha traces the extension from the sacrifice to a person put to death or tortured and then to anyone who dies in an accident or a war.^[3] Today the commonest senses are the person killed, injured or wronged by another and anyone who suffers harm from an accident, disaster or crime.^[2][14] The verb vitimar, from Latin victimo, is recorded from 1726.^[15]

Timeline

• 1572 – first record, spelt victimas.^[2][3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau heads it vîctima and derives it from Latin victoria.^[12]
• 1726 – first record of the verb victimar.^[15]
• 1734 – Feijó repeats the derivation from victoria.^[13]
• 1757 – the spelling vitimas in a private letter.^[6]
• 1789 – Morais adds the sense “person persecuted or sacrificed”.^[4]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the theological sense, Christ as victim.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person or animal killed as a sacrifice to a god or in a religious rite.^[2][14][16]
2. A person injured, tortured, murdered or executed by another; the victim of a crime: A vítima foi levada ao hospital.^[2][17][1]
3. A person who suffers or dies in an accident, disaster, epidemic or war: as vítimas da cheia.^[2][14]
4. A person sacrificed to the interests or passions of others, or deceived by them.^[14][18]
5. A person who falls prey to his own vices or passions.^[17][19]
6. Anything that suffers damage or loss.^[16][18]

Related words

• vitimar
• vitimário
• Latin victima
• Spanish víctima

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vítima
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. vítima
4. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 524
5. ^ a b c Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 5, 938
6. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. vítima
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. vítima
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. victime
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. victima
11. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. víctima
12. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vîctima
13. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vîctima
14. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. vítima
15. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vitimar
16. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. vítima
17. ^ a b Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. vítima
18. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9549
19. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. vítima