Vitu

Sicilian

Etymology

Uncertain. Historically often related to the name of an early Sicilian martyr, as in Late Latin Vitus, borrowed from an unknown substrate, possibly from a Thracian one (suggested to mean "a person from Bithynia"). It seems possibly derived from the same root that gaves us English Guy and Italian Guido, which was rendered in Vitus; ultimately derived from the same cultural stratum of Proto-Celtic *widus (“wood”) or Proto-Germanic *widuz (“wood”). If the sources were several, a conflation between these has possibly occurred.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvi.tʊ/
• Hyphenation: Vì‧tu

Proper noun

Vitu

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Guy, Vito

Usage notes

• By folk etymology it has been associated with Latin vita (“life”), the meaning of its feminine Sicilian counterpart, Vita, does not imply that meaning in every day talking, even though it can remind of it; it works as the Italian equivalent Guida; in any case, it is possible to joke around the homophony with the endearing vocative “vita mia!”.

Coordinated terms

• Vita (femminine variant)

Derived terms

• Sammitu
• san Vitu
• Vitazzu
• Vituzzu

 

Descendants

• → Italian: Vito (mostly of Southener use)

See also

• jiti
• jitu
• vigna
• viju
• vinnigna
• Vitali
• Vitalianu
• viteḍḍu
• viti
• vìdiri
• Vìtulu