vetulus

Latin

Alternative forms

• veclus (Late Latin, proscribed)

Etymology

From vetus (“old”) +‎ -ulus (diminutive ending).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈwɛ.tʊ.ɫʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈvɛː.t̪u.lus]

Adjective

vetulus (feminine vetula, neuter vetulum); first/second-declension adjective

1. old; little old, poor old
   • 1522, The Profane Feast (Conuiuium profanum):

     Vetulus canis non facile assuescit loro.

     It is hard to accustom an old dog to a leash.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	vetulus	vetula	vetulum		vetulī	vetulae	vetula
genitive	vetulī	vetulae	vetulī		vetulōrum	vetulārum	vetulōrum
dative	vetulō	vetulae	vetulō		vetulīs
accusative	vetulum	vetulam	vetulum		vetulōs	vetulās	vetula
ablative	vetulō	vetulā	vetulō		vetulīs
vocative	vetule	vetula	vetulum		vetulī	vetulae	vetula

Descendants

(All via the late form veclus with regular syncope and *tl > cl.)

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: veclju
  • Megleno-Romanian: vecľu
  • Romanian: vechi
• Dalmatian:
  • vieclo
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: vecchio
    • → Friulian: vecjo
  • Neapolitan: viecchio
  • Sicilian: vecchiu
• North Italian:
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Emilian: vèc'
    • Ligurian: vêgio
    • Lombard: vegg
    • Piedmontese: vej, vegg
  • Friulian: vieli
  • Istriot: viecio
  • Romansch: vegl, vigl
  • Venetan: vecio
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old Catalan: veyl, vell
    • Catalan: vell
  • Franco-Provençal: viely
  • Old French: viel
    • Middle French: vieulx
      • French: vieux
    • Walloon: vî
  • Old Occitan: vielh
    • Occitan: vièlh
    • → Italian: veglio
• Ibero-Romance
  • Aragonese: viello
  • Old Leonese: [Term?]
    • Asturian: vieyu
    • Leonese: vieyu, vieyo, viello, viechu
    • Mirandese: bielho
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: vello
    • Fala: vellu
    • Galician: vello
    • Portuguese: velho
  • Old Spanish: vieio, vyeio
    • Ladino: viejo
    • Spanish: viejo
• Insular Romance:
  • Campidanese: béciu, betzu
  • Logudorese: begru, egru (southern), beju, eju (northern)
  • Nuorese: becru, brecu

Noun

vetulus m (genitive vetulī); second declension

1. old man; little old man
   • Genesis 18:12 (in Latin)

     "et dominus meus vetulus ("and my lord is an old man")

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	vetulus	vetulī
genitive	vetulī	vetulōrum
dative	vetulō	vetulīs
accusative	vetulum	vetulōs
ablative	vetulō	vetulīs
vocative	vetule	vetulī

Related terms

• vetula

References

• “vetulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vetulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "vetulus", 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)
• vetulus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Elskens, Etienne, compiler. Latin Words, Genealogical Society of Flemish Americans.
• Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Latin and the development of the Romance languages: The postclassical period, Vulgar Latin, 2007.