videlicet Latin · revision 30954

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la videō, la licet}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [wɪˈdeː.lɪ.kɛt]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [viˈdɛː.li.t͡ʃet]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vidēlicet''' (not comparable)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a contraction of ⟨vidēre licet⟩, “one may see”, from [[m|la|videō|t=to see]] and [[m|la|licet|t=it is allowed]], like [[m|la|scīlicet]] and [[m|la|īlicet]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) De Vaan traces ⟨videō⟩ to [[ine-pro|*weyd-|t=to see]], and finds no certain cognates for ⟨licet⟩ outside Italic.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler gives Plautus as its first author.^(Köbler 2010) In the ''Stichus'' it still has its verbal force with an infinitive: ''vidēlicet parcum fuisse illum senem'', “plainly that old man was stingy”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means “evidently, plainly”, as in Plautus' guess that the ship's captain has come to fetch the girl, and with a causal clause, as in Livy, the allies stayed loyal, evidently because they were justly ruled.^(OLD 2012) It is often ironic, “no doubt”: Cicero's would-be Attic orators, of course, get what they want.^(OLD 2012) As an explanatory particle it is “that is to say, namely”.^(OLD 2012) Lewis and Short compare it with ''scīlicet'', confirming and completing what goes before.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “namely, plainly, evidently, manifestly”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in the sense “it is plain”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero ironically and in the sense “namely”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy with a causal clause.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # It is plain (that).^(OLD 2012)

+ # [[m|en|evidently|alt=Evidently]], plainly, clearly.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(ironic)'' Of course, no doubt.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # That is to say, [[m|en|namely]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[scīlicet]]

+ * [[īlicet]]

+ * [[videō]]

+ * [[licet]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}