vitium

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. crime
2. vice
3. fault, defect, blemish, error

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	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

Descendants

• Albanian: ves
• Catalan: vici
• English: vice
• Friulian: vizi
• Galician: vezo, vizo, vizio
• Italian: vezzo, vizio
• Occitan: vetz
• Old French: vice
  • French: 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^[2], 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)