vitulus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *wetelos, from Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“year”), same source as Ancient Greek ἔταλον (étalon), Albanian viç, English wether, Scots weddir, woddir, wadder (“wether”), Dutch weder, weer (“wether”), German Widder (“wether, ram”), Swedish vädur (“wether, ram”), Icelandic veður (“wether, ram”). See also Ancient Greek Ῑ̓ταλός (Ītalós).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯i.tu.lus/, [ˈu̯ɪt̪ʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvi.tu.lus/, [ˈviːt̪ulus]

Noun

vitulus m (genitive vitulī); second declension

1. a bull calf

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	vitulus	vitulī
Genitive	vitulī	vitulōrum
Dative	vitulō	vitulīs
Accusative	vitulum	vitulōs
Ablative	vitulō	vitulīs
Vocative	vitule	vitulī

Derived terms

• vitellus
• vitulus marīnus (“sea calf, seal”)

Related terms

• vitula

Descendants

(via VL. *vituleus):

• Aromanian: vitulj, vituljiu
• Romanian: vătui

Borrowings:

• → Portuguese: vítulo
• → Spanish: vítulo

References

• “vitulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vitulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• vitulus 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)
• vitulus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “vitulus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray