Middle English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Old French vitaile,[1] from Latin victuālia.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /viˈtɛi̯l(ə)/, /ˈvitəl(ə)/

Noun edit

vitaile (plural vitailes or vitaile)

  1. (primarily as a plural) That which provides nutrition; food, nourishment.
  2. A ration or rations, victuals; one's store of food for journeying.
    • 15th c., “Processus Noe cum filiis [Noah and the Ark]”, in Wakefield Mystery Plays; Re-edited in George England, Alfred W. Pollard, editors, The Towneley Plays (Early English Text Society Extra Series; LXXI), London: [] Oxford University Press, 1897, →OCLC, page 27, lines 154–155:
      ffor thay may the avayll / when al this thyng is wroght' / stuf thi ship with vitayll, / ffor hungre that ye perish noght
      For your own good after this thing [the Flood] is done, stuff your shop with provisions so as not to perish from hunger
  3. Food yielded from agriculture.
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
  • English: victual, vittle
  • Scots: victual
  • Irish: biotáille

Etymology 2 edit

Borrowed from Middle French vitaillier.

Verb edit

vitaile

  1. Alternative form of vitailen

References edit

  1. ^ vitaile, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 12 June 2018.

Old French edit

Etymology edit

Latin victuālia, the nominative plural of victuālis, from victus, from the verb vīvō (I live).

Noun edit

vitaile oblique singularf (oblique plural vitailes, nominative singular vitaile, nominative plural vitailes)

  1. (chiefly in the plural) provisions; vittle; food

Descendants edit