victus

Latin

Etymology 1

From vīvō (“live, survive”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯iːk.tus/, [ˈu̯iːkt̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvik.tus/, [ˈvikt̪us]

Noun

vīctus m (genitive vīctūs); fourth declension

1. living, way of life, lifestyle
   • c. 30 BCE, Cicero, Dē Lēgibus 3.14.32:

     Ego autem nōbilium vītā vīctūque mūtātō mōrēs mūtārī cīvitātum putō.

     But I consider that the way of life of cities can be changed by changing the life and living of the noble.

2. nourishment, provision, diet, that which sustains life

   Synonyms: nūtrīmentum, pābulum, alimentum

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 6.22:

     Agrīcultūrae nōn student, maiorque pars eōrum vīctūs in lacte, cāseō, carne cōnsistit.

     They don't care about agriculture, and a greater part of their diet consists of milk, cheese and meat.

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.311–312:

     Maxima pars undā rapitur; quibus unda pepercit,
     illōs longa domant inopī ieiūnia vīctū.

     The greatest part is taken away by water; long fasting
     overcome with poor nourishment those whom the waves spared.

3. (Late Latin, law) necessaries of life
   • C.E. 530 – C.E. 533, Justinian I, Dīgesta seu Pandectae 50.16.43–44:

     Verbō vīctus continentur, quae ēsuī pōtuīque cultuīque corporis quaeque ad vīvendum hominī necessāria sunt. Vestem quoque vīctūs habēre vicem Labeō ait.
     Et cētera, quibus tuendī cūrandīve corporis nostrī grātiā ūtimur, eā appellātiōne sīgnificantur.

     By the word vīctus is meant that which is necessary for the feeding and hydration and care of the body and for the life of a human. Labeo includes clothing under this term.
     And the other things which we use for keeping and caring for our bodies are meant by that term.

Usage notes

As seen above in the first quotation, this word is often alliteratively in apposition with vīta.

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	vīctus	vīctūs
Genitive	vīctūs	vīctuum
Dative	vīctuī	vīctibus
Accusative	vīctum	vīctūs
Ablative	vīctū	vīctibus
Vocative	vīctus	vīctūs

Related terms

• convīctus
• vīctum
• vīctuālis

Descendants

• Aromanian: yiptu, viptu, ghiptu, yipt
• Romanian: vipt
• → Italian: vitto
• → Spanish: victo
• → Polish: wikt

Etymology 2

Perfect passive participle of vincō (“conquer”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯ik.tus/, [ˈu̯ɪkt̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvik.tus/, [ˈvikt̪us]

Participle

victus (feminine victa, neuter victum); first/second-declension participle

1. conquered, vanquished, subdued, defeated, having been conquered, vanquished, etc.
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.37–38:

     haec sēcum: “Mēne inceptō dēsistere vīctam,
     nec posse Ītaliā Teucrōrum āvertere rēgem?”

     [She said] these [things] to herself: “Am I to desist from my undertaking, defeated, unable to turn away from Italy the king of the Teucrians?”
     (Juno asks herself the rhetorical question: Can I not stop one man?; i.e., the leader of the Trojans, Aeneas, himself a descendant of King Teucer.)

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	victus	victa	victum		victī	victae	victa
Genitive	victī	victae	victī		victōrum	victārum	victōrum
Dative	victō	victae	victō		victīs
Accusative	victum	victam	victum		victōs	victās	victa
Ablative	victō	victā	victō		victīs
Vocative	victe	victa	victum		victī	victae	victa

Antonyms

• invictus

Descendants

• Aromanian: azvimtu
• Italian: vinto
• Sardinian: bintu

References

• “victus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “victus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• victus 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)
• victus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to have attained to a high degree of culture: omni vita atque victu excultum atque expolitum esse (Brut. 25. 95)
    
  • daily bread: victus cotidianus
    
  • meagre diet: victus tenuis (Fin. 2. 28. 90)
    
  • (ambiguous) the necessaries of life: quae ad victum pertinent
    
  • (ambiguous) things indispensable to a life of comfort: res ad victum cultumque necessariae
    
  • (ambiguous) a livelihood: quae suppeditant ad victum (Off. 1. 4. 12)
    
  • (ambiguous) to earn a livelihood by something: victum aliqua re quaerere
    
  • (ambiguous) to be defeated in fight, lose the battle: proelio vinci, superari, inferiorem, victum discedere
    
• “victus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers