vitabundus Latin · revision 36338

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=86–34 BC, Sallust|origins=la vītō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [wiː.taːˈbʊn.dʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [vi.taˈbun.dus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vītābundus''' (feminine vītābunda, neuter vītābundum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|vītō|-bundus|t1=to avoid|t2=adjective suffix]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) The origin of the verb is disputed: Walde and Hofmann took it from a preverb meaning “apart” and a verb of going, while de Vaan thinks a connection with [[m|la|invītus|t=unwilling]] more probable, from [[ine-pro|*uih₁-to-|t=wished for]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Sallust,^(Köbler 2010) who has it in the ''Jugurthine War'' of a commander leading his army through wooded country as though trying to slip away (''quasi vītābundus'').^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word is rare: Lewis and Short note that Cicero and Caesar never use it.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Sallust and Livy also construe it with an accusative, “keeping clear of” something: Livy's ''vītābundus castra hostium'' describes a march that avoided the enemy camp.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) Tacitus applies it to speech, of people who talked round Vespasian's name so as not to say it.^(Conte 2010)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ Medieval writers kept it: William of Malmesbury uses it of fire that escapes by twisting turns,^(DMLBS) and glossaries explain it as ''metuēns'' “fearing”^(Georges 1913) or as ''vītābilis''.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of evasive movement, with or without an accusative.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy writes ''vītābundus castra hostium'', “avoiding the enemy camp”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * AD 98–115 – Tacitus uses it of avoiding a name in conversation.^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Taking [[m|en|evasive]] action, dodging, trying to slip away.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # ''(with accusative)'' [[m|en|avoid|alt=Avoiding]], keeping clear of (a place or enemy) as one moves.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}