Dictionary of Meaning
<<Back
Please select a letter:
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I |
J |
K |
L |
M |
N |
O |
P |
Q |
R |
S |
T |
U |
V |
W |
X |
Y |
Z |
0-9
Click here for Shopping
VIZ
*** Shopping-Tip: VIZ
:''For other uses of "Viz", including the comic, please see
Viz (disambiguation)''.
The adverbs '''''viz''''' and '''''videlicet''''' are two words of
Latin origin used today as synonyms of "namely", "precisely", "that is to say", and introduce a specification or a more detailed description of something stated before. Often, as with a
colon (punctuation) syntactical-descriptive colon, this is a list. Though both forms survive in many
modern languages, ''viz'' is by far more common in English than ''videlicet''. Also, by English tradition, ''viz'' is read aloud as "namely" or "to wit", not phonetically as {{IPA.html">full stop
period. Unlike ''
e.g.'' neither ''viz'' or ''videlicet'' ought to be used to introduce examples.
Etymology and difference with the original meaning
''Videlicet'' was itself a
classical Latin word; ''viz'', instead, is a
transliteration of a medieval
scribal abbreviation for ''videlicet'': its first two letters followed by a sign looking something like the numeral ''3'', or the
Middle English letter
yogh (although related to neither of these).
''Videlicet'' (''uidēlicet'') is a
contraction (grammar) contraction of ''uidēre licet'' (''uidēre'', to see; ''licet'', third person sing. present tense of ''licēre'', to be permitted), hence its original meaning of "it may be seen", "evidently", "clearly". In classical Latin it was used to confirm a previous sentence or, ironically, to state its contrary. Both usages have pretty much been lost over the course of the years, leaving the simpler meaning explained above.
A similar expression is ''scilicet'', abbreviated ''sc.'' ("of course"), from ''scīre licet'' ("it may be known").
Examples
* The main point of his speech, ''viz.'' that our attitude was in fact harmful, was not understood.
* My grandfather had four sons that grew up, viz.: Thomas, John, Benjamin and Josiah.
[[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/148 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin] at Project Gutenberg]
* The poor world is almost six thousand years old
[At the time of writing the origin of the world was placed, by biblical calculations, around 4000 BCE], and in all this time there was not any man died in his own person, videlicet, in a love-cause.
[From As You Like It by William Shakespeare, act 4, scene 1, l. 94-7]
Having both the word ''viz'' and a syntactical-descriptive colon, as in Ben Franklin's example above, is arguably redundant.
References
Category:Latin phrases
see
Viz (disambiguation)
