vitta

See also: Vitta and vittâ

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vitta.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪtə

Noun

vitta (plural vittae)

1. A fillet, or garland for the head.
2. (zoology) A longitudinal stripe.
   • 1870, American Entomologist and Botanist, volume 2, page 301:

     The curved black line behind the scutel is usually expanded, in connection with the metathoracic black vitta, into a broad black triangle, the apex of which does not quite attain the abdominal peduncle.

3. (botany) An oil tube in the fruit of some plants.

Anagrams

• Ivatt

Latin

Alternative forms

• weta, witta (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

From Latin vieō (“to plait, weave”), perhaps via an earlier *vīta, a to-particle of vieō (< *uiH-to-).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈwɪt.ta]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈvit̪.t̪a]

Noun

vitta f (genitive vittae); first declension

1. band, ribbon
2. fillet, headband, chaplet

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	vitta	vittae
genitive	vittae	vittārum
dative	vittae	vittīs
accusative	vittam	vittās
ablative	vittā	vittīs
vocative	vitta	vittae

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: vetta
  • Sicilian: vitta
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: veta
  • Old French: vete
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Galician-Portuguese:
    • Galician: fita (probably)
    • Portuguese: fita (probably), guita
  • Old Spanish:
    • Spanish: veta
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *bitta
  • Balkano-Romance:
    • Romanian: bată
  • Ibero-Romance:
    • Old Galician-Portuguese:
      • Portuguese: beta
    • Old Spanish:
      • Spanish: beta
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *vittula (diminutive)
  • →? Albanian: vetull
• Borrowings:
  • → English: vitta
  • → Italian: vitta

Further reading

• “vitta”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• vitta in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Old Norse

Noun

vitta

1. genitive plural of vitt