vestigium

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vestigium.

Noun

vestigium (plural vestigia)

1. A vestige.

Latin

Etymology

Unknown. Maybe from earlier *verstīgium, from verrō (“to sweep”). Or, possibly from vē- +‎ *stīgō, from Proto-Indo-European *stéygʰeti (“to walk”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /u̯esˈtiː.ɡi.um/, [u̯ɛs̠ˈt̪iːɡiʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /vesˈti.d͡ʒi.um/, [vesˈt̪iːd͡ʒium]

Noun

vestīgium n (genitive vestīgiī or vestīgī); second declension

1. footprint, track
2. trace, vestige, mark, sign
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.23:

     “[...] adgnōscō veteris vestīgia flammae.”

     “[...] I recognize the traces of an old flame.”
     (In other words, Dido feels that she is falling in love.)

3. sole of the foot
4. horseshoe
5. (figuratively, of time) moment, instant

   Synonym: mōmentum

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico VII.25:

     omnemque Galliae salutem in illo vestigio temporis positam arbitrarentur

     And they considered all the safety of Gallia laid on this moment of time

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	vestīgium	vestīgia
genitive	vestīgiī vestīgī1	vestīgiōrum
dative	vestīgiō	vestīgiīs
accusative	vestīgium	vestīgia
ablative	vestīgiō	vestīgiīs
vocative	vestīgium	vestīgia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Related terms

• vestīgātiō
• vestīgātor
• vestīgō

Descendants

• → Catalan: vestigi
• → English: vestige
• → French: vestige
• → Portuguese: vestígio
• → Romanian: vestigiu
• → Spanish: vestigio
• → Italian: vestigio

Further reading

• “vestigium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vestigium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• vestigium 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)
• vestigium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to follow in any one's steps: vestigia alicuius sequi, persequi or vestigiis aliquem sequi, persequi
    
  • to follow in any one's steps: vestigiis alicuius insistere, ingredi (also metaph.)
    
  • not to stir from one's place: loco or vestigio se non movere