via Latin · revision 2783

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 450 BC, Twelve Tables|origins=ine-pro *wih₁eh₂-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈwi.a]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈviː.a]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''via''' ''f'' (genitive viae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The old spelling ''vea'' is recorded by Varro, and inscriptions have ''vieam'' and ''veam''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*wijā-|t=road]], [[inh|ine-pro|*wih₁eh₂-|t=pursuit]], from the root [[ine-pro|*weyh₁-|t=to strive after, pursue]], which de Vaan also finds in [[vis|alt=vīs]] “you want” and [[invitus|alt=invītus]] “unwilling”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Cognate with [[osc|víú]], [[xum|vea]] and [[spx|víam]], all “road”, and further with [[sa|वियन्ति|tr=viyánti|t=they pursue]], [[lt|vyti|t=to drive, pursue]] and [[grc|ἵεμαι|tr=híemai|t=to strive after]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The older explanation, still given by Lewis and Short and Etymonline, derives it from [[ine-pro|*weǵʰ-|t=to carry, go in a vehicle]], the root of [[veho|alt=vehō]] and of [[en|way]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Etymonline) De Vaan rejects it, because the rustic forms [[m|la|veia]] “wagon” in Festus and [[m|la|veham]] in Varro show Vulgar Latin lowering of /i/ in hiatus and so point to an original *wijā-.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Georges connects it with [[eo|alt=īre]] “to go”.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is attested from the Twelve Tables (c. 450 BC),^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) which, as the Digest reports, fixed the width of a [[m|en|road]] at eight feet on the straight and sixteen at a bend.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant a made road or street, and the ''via publica'' was a road built and kept up by the state; the great roads bore names, ''via Appia'', ''via Flaminia''.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) By extension it was a gangway in a theatre, a channel or duct in the body, and the course of a heavenly body.^(OLD 2012) It also meant the act of travelling, a journey, and the right of way through another's land, defined by the jurists as the right to go and to drive.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Figuratively it was a course of action or way of life (''via vitae''), a means of reaching an end (''via mortis'', ''via quaestus'') and a method, and ''via ac ratione'' meant “methodically”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Christian and medieval Latin used it for a manner of life, for the way of suffering and for a [[m|en|pilgrimage]] (''via sancti sepulcri'').^(Stelten 1995)^(Köbler 2010) It survives in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese ''via'' and French ''voie'',^(Wiktionary) and English [[m|en|via]] (1779) is its ablative, “by the road of”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables fix the width of a road.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for the street, for a journey and for a course of action.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence has ''via'' in the sense “methodically”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the ''via vitae'', the path of life.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of a gangway in the theatre.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * before 223 AD – Ulpian defines ''via'' as the legal right to walk and to drive across land.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1779 – English adopts the ablative as the preposition [[en|via]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A made [[m|en|road]], a street, a highway, as in ''via publica'', a public road.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A gangway between seats; a channel or duct.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A journey, a march.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A passage or way through, and in law the right of way over another's land.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The course or route to a destination; the path of a heavenly body.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A course of action or conduct; a way of life.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A way of achieving something; a means, an expedient; a method.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical and Medieval Latin)'' A manner of life; a [[m|en|pilgrimage]] route.^(Stelten 1995)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[āvius]]

+ * [[bivia]]

+ * [[bivium]]

+ * [[bivius]]

+ * [[dēvius]]

+ * [[impervius]]

+ * [[invius]]

+ * [[obviō]]

+ * [[obvius]]

+ * [[pervius]]

+ * [[praevius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[triviālis]]

+ * [[invītus]]

+ * [[vītō]]

+ * [[en|via]]

+ * [[en|way]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein contrasts ''via'', the path on which one goes, with [[iter]], the going itself or a route that leads straight to a point, and [[meatus|alt=meātus]], the movement of a thing without will.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}