vix
Latin
Etymology
Etymology tree
From Proto-Italic *wiks sg (nom.), *wiksu pl (“a turn, bend”, loc.), from Proto-Indo-European *weyk-.[1]
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈwɪks]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈviks]
Adverb
vix (not comparable)
- with difficulty, with effort; scarcely, hardly, barely
- Vix crēdendum est... ― It is hard to believe...
- 63 BCE, Cicero, Catiline Orations Oratio in Catilinam Prima in Senatu Habita.23:
- […] vix feram sermōnēs hominum, sī id fēcerīs, vix mōlem istīus invidiae, sī in exsilium iussū cōnsulis ierīs, sustinēbō.
- […] I shall scarcely endure the talk of men, if you do that, and I shall hardly withstand the burden of that unpopularity if you go into exile by the consul’s command.
- […] vix feram sermōnēs hominum, sī id fēcerīs, vix mōlem istīus invidiae, sī in exsilium iussū cōnsulis ierīs, sustinēbō.
- 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 7.13:
- […] ; quamquam de gloria vix dicere ausim, si nos et hostes haud secus quam feminas abditos intra vallum omnibus contumeliis eludunt, et […]
- […] ; though I had as lief not to speak of glory, when the enemy jeers us with much abuse as if women concealing behind walls, and […]
- […] ; quamquam de gloria vix dicere ausim, si nos et hostes haud secus quam feminas abditos intra vallum omnibus contumeliis eludunt, et […]
- (temporal) hardly, merely, just, scarcely
- vix... cum...
- c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico VI.8:
- Vix agmen novissimum extra munitiones processerat, cum Galli cohortati inter se, […] flumen transire et iniquo loco committere proelium non dubitant.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- Vix agmen novissimum extra munitiones processerat, cum Galli cohortati inter se, […] flumen transire et iniquo loco committere proelium non dubitant.
Derived terms
Descendants
- Old Navarro-Aragonese: veiza (Glosas Emilianenses)
- Neapolitan: vi (Abruzzese)
- Romansh: ves
- ⇒ Aromanian: ayia
- ⇒ Romanian: abia
- ⇒ Old Leonese: abés
- Asturian: avés (obsolete)
- ⇒ Spanish: abés (archaic)
References
- Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911), “vix”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 720
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “vix”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 686
Further reading
- “vix”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “vix”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.