Latin edit

Etymology edit

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(d)u̯i-tero- (second, other), but the (likely) long /iː/ is problematic.[1]

Pronunciation edit

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈu̯iː.tri.kus/, [ˈu̯iːt̪rɪkʊs̠]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈvi.tri.kus/, [ˈviːt̪rikus]
  • Even though this word is reported as vĭ-trĭ-cus in the Lewis & Short and Gaffiot 2016 dictionaries, it is never attested as such in ancient poetry. De Vaan and the Oxford Latin Dictionary provide it with vī-. In poetry, it is only attested three times in Ovid (always with a heavy initial syllable, ambiguously vī- or vĭt-) and a few other times in late poets such as Prudentius (in like positions). That the vowel of the first syllable was long is supported by at least the Romanian reflex (the Sardinian and southern Italian reflexes can equally reflect /ī/ or /ĭ/).

Noun edit

vītricus m (genitive vītricī); second declension

  1. stepfather

Declension edit

Second-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative vītricus vītricī
Genitive vītricī vītricōrum
Dative vītricō vītricīs
Accusative vītricum vītricōs
Ablative vītricō vītricīs
Vocative vītrice vītricī

Descendants edit

References edit

  • vitricus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • vitricus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • vitricus 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)
  • vitricus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • uītricus” on page 2080/2 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)
  1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 684
  2. ^ Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “vītrĭcus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 8: Patavia–Pix, page 20:nordkalabr. vítrikə „stiefvater“, südbasilic vítrikə