vestigium

English

vestigium (plural vestigia)

Of unknown origin.^[1]^[2] Maybe from earlier *verstīgium, from verrō (“to sweep”).^[3] Or, possibly from vē- +‎ *stīgō, from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ- (“to walk”).

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

vestīgium n (genitive vestīgiī or vestīgī); second declension

footprint, track
trace, vestige, mark
sole of the foot
horseshoe
(figuratively, of time) moment, instant
- Caesar, 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

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

^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “vestige”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
^ “vestigium” in the Oxford Latin Dictionary, 1968
^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 671.

“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