vix

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *weyk-

Proto-Italic *wiks

Latin vix

From Proto-Italic *wiks sg (nom.), *wiksu pl (“a turn, bend”, loc.), from Proto-Indo-European *weyk-.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈwɪks]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈviks]

Adverb

vix (not comparable)

1. with difficulty, with effort; scarcely, hardly, barely

   Vix crēdendum est... ― It is hard to believe...

   • 63 BCE, Cicero, In Catilinam orationes 1.23:

     […] vix feram sermōnēs hominum, sī id fēcerīs, vix mōlem istīus invidiae, sī in exsilium iussū cōnsulis ierīs, sustinēbō.

     […] I shall scarcely endure the talk of men, if you do that, and I shall hardly withstand the burden of that unpopularity if you go into exile by the consul’s command.

   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 7.13:

     […] ; quamquam de gloria vix dicere ausim, si nos et hostes haud secus quam feminas abditos intra vallum omnibus contumeliis eludunt, et […]

     […] ; though I had as lief not to speak of glory, when the enemy jeers us with much abuse as if women concealing behind walls, and […]

2. (temporal) hardly, merely, just, scarcely

   vix... cum...

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de bello Gallico VI.8:

     Vix agmen novissimum extra munitiones processerat, cum Galli cohortati inter se, […] flumen transire et iniquo loco committere proelium non dubitant.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• vixdum

Descendants

• Old Navarro-Aragonese: veiza (Glosas Emilianenses)
• Neapolitan: vi (Abruzzese)
• Romansh: ves
• ⇒ Aromanian: ayia
• ⇒ Romanian: abia
• ⇒ Old Leonese: abés
  • Asturian: avés (obsolete)
• ⇒ Spanish: abés (archaic)

References

• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911), “vix”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 720

Further reading

• “vix”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vix”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.