vitium

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Latin

Alternative forms

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(d)wi-tyo- (apart, wrong), a derivative of the number *dwóh₁ (two).[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

vitium n (genitive vitiī or vitī); second declension

  1. flaw, defect, blemish, imperfection
    • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.147–148:
      accipit ille locus positō vēlāmine cūnctās
      et vitium nūdī corporis omne videt
      That place receives with all garments set aside,
      and exposes every blemish on the naked body.

      (See Fortuna Virilis.)
  2. vice
    • c. 35 CE – 100 CE, Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 8.3.41:
      nam prima virtus est vitio carere
      • Translation by Harold Edgeworth Butler
        Since the first of all virtues is the avoidance of faults
        (literally, “For the first virtue is to lack vice”)
  3. crime, wrongdoing, misdeed, sin, error, fault
    Synonyms: dēlictum, peccātum, scelus, noxa, culpa, crīmen, facinus, malum, iniūria, error, dēlinquentia, flāgitium, commissum, maleficium
    Antonyms: bonum, rēctum, virtūs
  4. disease (of plants)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative vitium vitia
Genitive vitiī
vitī1
vitiōrum
Dative vitiō vitiīs
Accusative vitium vitia
Ablative vitiō vitiīs
Vocative vitium vitia

1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Derived terms

Descendants

Further reading

  • vitium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • vitium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • vitium in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • vitium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • a mistake, solecism: vitium orationis, sermonis or simply vitium
    • to be indulgent to a person's faults: indulgere vitiis alicuius
    • to be virtuous: virtute praeditum, ornatum esse (opp. vitiis obrutum esse)
    • his vices betray themselves: vitia erumpunt (in aliquem) (De Amic. 21. 76)
    • to abandon oneself to vice: animum vitiis dedere
    • to be tainted with vice: vitiis, sceleribus contaminari or se contaminare (Off. 3. 8. 37)
    • to be vicious, criminal: vitiis, sceleribus inquinatum, contaminatum, obrutum esse
    • to eradicate vice: vitia exstirpare et funditus tollere
    • a life defiled by every crime: vita omnibus flagitiis, vitiis dedita
    • to have a natural propensity to vice: natura proclivem esse ad vitia
    • (ambiguous) the word aemulatio is employed with two meanings, in a good and a bad sense: aemulatio dupliciter dicitur, ut et in laude et in vitio hoc nomen sit
    • (ambiguous) to be free from faults: omni vitio carere
    • (ambiguous) magistrates elected irregularly (i.e. either when the auspices have been unfavourable or when some formality has been neglected): magistratus vitio creati
    • (ambiguous) to reproach, blame a person for..: aliquid alicui crimini dare, vitio vertere (Verr. 5. 50)

References

  1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “vitium”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 684
  • vitium in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2024), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication