Re: invicem

--- Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> wrote:
> On Wednesday, November 12, 2003, at 04:51 PM, Adam
> Walker wrote:
>
> > I was translating a Latin Christmas song and came
> > across this wonderful word -- invicem.  Does it
> > survive in any of the Romance languages?  I can't
> find
> > it in any of my dictionaries of Spanish, French,
> > Catalan or Italian.
>
> "invicem", although often written as one word, is
> really
> two "in uicem" and the latter word 'uice(m)' (nom.
> uicis),
> does survive:
>     Italian: vece   (place, stead)
>      French: fois   (time, occasion)
>     Spanish: vez    (  " ,    "    )
> Portuguese: vez    ( "  ,    "     )
>
> "invicem" survives in Italian 'invece' with the
> meaning
> of "in stead of", which is one meaning of the
> Classical
> Latin "in uicem".
>
Really.  My Latin dict. doesn't list that meaning at
all. I really ought to get a bigger Latin dict.

> 'invicem' came to be written as a single word
> because it
> became a set phrase and in late Latin we find it
> treated
> as an indeclinable pronoun meaning "each other",
> which may
> be governed by a preposition, e.g.
> "ad inuicem", "ab inuicem", "in inuicem" and "pro
> inuicem"
> are all found in the Vulgate.
>
Interesting info.  Thanks.  Pondering possible new
words for C-a . . . adimvichi, avimvichi, prumvichi .
. .

> One person used to finish his snail mails to me
> with:
> 'oremus pro invicem'
>
> > If it doesen't survive, how do the modern Romances
> > express "by turns", "one by one" or "invicem"?
>
> 'one another', 'mutually' is a more common meaning
> in
> the post-Augustan period.  But I leave the modern
> equivalents of the various meanings of 'inuicem' ~
> 'in uicem' to our Romance speakers   :)
>
> Ray
Well, my dictionary *does* list those two meanings,
but way down the list.

adv. in turns, taking turns, one after another,
alternately; mutually, eachother

"Instead" isn't listed at all and the two you identify
as most common as we approach the VL period are las on
the list. Maybe this is something for my Christmas
wish list . . .

Adam

=====
Fached il prori ul pañeveju djul atexindu mutu chu.
-- Carrajena proverb