vitium

Latin

Alternative forms

• vicium (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(d)wi-tyo- (“apart, wrong”), a derivative of the number *dwóh₁ (“two”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯i.ti.um/, [ˈu̯ɪt̪iʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvit.t͡si.um/, [ˈvit̪ː͡s̪ium]

Noun

vitium n (genitive vitiī or vitī); second declension

1. flaw, defect, blemish, imperfection
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.147–148:

     accipit ille locus positō vēlāmine cūnctās
     et vitium nūdī corporis omne videt

     That place receives [you] with all [your] garments set aside,
     and exposes every blemish on the naked body.
     (See Fortuna Virilis.)

2. vice
   • c. 35 CE – 100 CE, Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 8.3.41:

     nam prima virtus est vitio carere

     • Translation by Harold Edgeworth Butler

       Since the first of all virtues is the avoidance of faults

       (literally, “For the first virtue is to lack vice”)

3. crime, wrongdoing, misdeed, sin, error, fault

   Synonyms: dēlictum, peccātum, scelus, noxa, culpa, crīmen, facinus, malum, iniūria, error, dēlinquentia, flāgitium, commissum, maleficium

   Antonyms: bonum, rēctum, virtūs

4. disease (of plants)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	vitium	vitia
genitive	vitiī vitī1	vitiōrum
dative	vitiō	vitiīs
accusative	vitium	vitia
ablative	vitiō	vitiīs
vocative	vitium	vitia

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

Derived terms

• vitiō
• vitiōsus
• vituperō

Related terms

• vitiōsitas

Descendants

• Asturian: viciu
• Albanian: ves
• Catalan: vici
• Friulian: vizi
• Galician: vezo, vizo, vizio
• Italian: vezzo, vizio
• Occitan: vetz
• Old French: vice
  • French: vice
  • → Middle English: vice
    • English: vice
• Piedmontese: vissi
• Portuguese: vezo, viço, vício
• Romanian: viciu
• Sicilian: vezzu, vizziu
• Spanish: vezo, vicio

Further reading

• “vitium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vitium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• vitium 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)
• vitium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • a mistake, solecism: vitium orationis, sermonis or simply vitium
    
  • to be indulgent to a person's faults: indulgere vitiis alicuius
    
  • to be virtuous: virtute praeditum, ornatum esse (opp. vitiis obrutum esse)
    
  • his vices betray themselves: vitia erumpunt (in aliquem) (De Amic. 21. 76)
    
  • to abandon oneself to vice: animum vitiis dedere
    
  • to be tainted with vice: vitiis, sceleribus contaminari or se contaminare (Off. 3. 8. 37)
    
  • to be vicious, criminal: vitiis, sceleribus inquinatum, contaminatum, obrutum esse
    
  • to eradicate vice: vitia exstirpare et funditus tollere
    
  • a life defiled by every crime: vita omnibus flagitiis, vitiis dedita
    
  • to have a natural propensity to vice: natura proclivem esse ad vitia
    
  • (ambiguous) the word aemulatio is employed with two meanings, in a good and a bad sense: aemulatio dupliciter dicitur, ut et in laude et in vitio hoc nomen sit
    
  • (ambiguous) to be free from faults: omni vitio carere
    
  • (ambiguous) magistrates elected irregularly (i.e. either when the auspices have been unfavourable or when some formality has been neglected): magistratus vitio creati
    
  • (ambiguous) to reproach, blame a person for..: aliquid alicui crimini dare, vitio vertere (Verr. 5. 50)
    

References

• vitium in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2024), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication