vitology

English

Etymology 1

From Latin vīta (“life”), from vīvō (“I live”) + -ology

Noun

vitology (uncountable)

1. (historical) An approach to healthy living promoted in the late 19th and early 20th century.
   • 1912, The Freewoman - Volume 2, page 293:

     The modern trend towards the so-called nature cure methods betrays the dim prevision of the new climatic treatment embodied in the science of vitology.

   • 1914, Elbert Hubbard, Felix Shay, The Fra: For Philistines and Roycrofters - Volume 13, page xxiii:

     Vitology establishes tranquility, poise, reserve strength; cultivates your memory; makes you ambitious, courageous, powerful -- all this and more may beyours through the study and application of this wonderul new science of mental and physical efficiency, and without the use of drugs.

   • 1927, Saturday Review of Literature - Volume 4, page 927:

     But God is not mocked, either by vitamines, vegetables, vibrations, or vitology.

   • 1981, Viktoras P. Kulvinskas, Richard Tasca Jr., Life in the 21st Century, page 31:

     Through vitology, “one eliminates and heals menstruation as well as seminal losses."

2. The scientific study of life at the cellular level.
   • 1909, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations, “Editorial Notes”, “The First Pan-American Scientific Congress”, in E. W. Allen, H. L. Knight (assistant), editors, Experimental Station Record, volumes XX, 1908–1909, Washington: Government Printing Office, page 697:

     D. In order to complete agricultural education, the American countries should keep in view: (1) Supplementary establishments for agricultural experiment stations, laboratories of vegetable pathology and vitology, special stations, agricultural statistics, etc.; (2) the development of extension teaching through the medium of demonstration farms, by the aid of local farmers, and, in general, by all the means of propaganda which enable agricultural instruction to reach the farmer himself so as to guide him in his work.

   • 1967, New South Wales. Parliament, Joint Volumes of Papers Presented to the Legislative Council, page 297:

     Whilst there is always that steady step forward in the field of treatment, chiefly in improved surgical anaesthetic and resuscitation techniques, there has been no development during the past twelve mothns especially in the fields of chemotherapy, vitology, immunology etc. which can be regarded as having any possible early application which would be superior to the present accepted methods of treatment.

   • 2007 November 1, Claude A Piantadosi, “Early development of near-infrared spectroscopy at Duke University”, in Journal of biomedical optics, volume 12, number 6:

     Most of the information that made him skeptical of in vitro “mitochondriology,” and that it did not have much to do with “cellular vitology” (the term by which his laboratory came to be known), had come from studies of transillumination of various thin, excised, but otherwise intact tissues specialized for ion transport--gastric mucosa, carotic body, and kidney.

   • 2011, Peterson's Graduate Programs in Genetics, Developmental Biology, & Reproductive Biology; Marine Biology; and Microbiological Sciences:

     Faculty research: Emerging diseases, tropical diseases, parasitology, vitology and bacteriology.

3. An African worldview that unites life, consciousness, behavior, and culture.
   • 2007, Satya Nilayam: Chennai Journal of Intercultural Philosophy, page 12:

     Martin Nkafu Nkemnkia distinguishes life from being in his theory of African vitology.

   • 2012, Stan Chu Ilo, The Face of Africa: Looking Beyond the Shadows, page 137:

     African vitology is "a conceptual vision of the whole of reality, where there are no spaces for irreducible dichotomies between matter and spirit, religious commitment and daily life, soul and body, the world of the living and the world of the dead...each concept, scientific field, cultural aspect is a value, which is found within a whole."

   • 2016, Edmund Kee-Fook Chia, Interfaith Dialogue: Global Perspectives, page 203:

     Theologians such a Nkemnikia speak of African theology and philosophy from the perspective of “vitology.”

   • 2021 June, Anthony Afe. Asekhauno, Anthony Ngbeken, “Towards an Alternative Political Structure for Nascent Africa: Demonarcracy; NOT Democracy”, in Port Harcourt Journal of HIstory & Diplomatic Studies, volume 8, number 2:

     These issues are crucial in an African world-view and vitology (Waliggo, 17): including tolerating abortion, homosexuality, human cloning, surrogacy, in-vitro fertilization, pornography abuses, misues of the social media and other physical abuses.

4. The study or existence of virtual or computer-augmented life.
   • 2012, Truths of Terasem, page 30:

     Everywhere means physical and cyberspace, real and virtual reality, because vitology can thrive in many spaces.

   • 2014, Martine Rothblatt, Virtually Human, page 161:

     This quick survey of the spread and potential of cyberspace demonstrates that vitology won't run out of an environment in which to rapidly evolve.

   • 2020, Jennifer Huberman, Transhumanism: From Ancestors to Avatars, page 161:

     Just as biology is the study of organic life, Rothblatt uses the term vitology to refer to the study of cybernetic life.

5. The model of the life force (chi) in traditional Chinese medicine and philosophy.
   • 2015, Byong-Hyon Han, Therapy of Social Medicine, page 34:

     As we have seen, the essential concept of the remaining margin is based on the vitology of Oriental medicine. According to vitology, the movement of energy starts time and space, and the beginning of time sets the flow of energy in the space.

6. Life sciences in general.
   • 2002, Rajendra Pal Singh, Gopal Rana, Teacher Education in Turmoil: Quest for a Solution, page 72:

     The science of vitology consists of social sciences like economics, legal studies, health sciences, sociology, psychology and educational studies even as they regard the educational system a part of the social system which encompasses system of sciences, health and polical system, etc.

Etymology 2

From Latin vītis (“vine”) + -ology

Noun

vitology (uncountable)

1. The horticulture of vineyards.
   • 1988 January, “Document Section”, in Resources in Education, volume 23, number 1, Education Resources Information Center, “Viticulture and Enology Curriculum”, page 11, column 1:

     As a part of the vitology curriculum, performance steps are provided for a total of 66 tasks in the following 8 duty areas: establishing the vineyard, maintaining and operating a water management system, managing the soil, managing the plant canopy, controlling pests, marketing the crop, managing crop levels and quality, and harvesting the crop.

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Related terms

• viticulture