English
vicissity
Vicissity comes from Latin vicissitas ‘change, alternation’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to curve, bend’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-‘to curve, bend’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvicis‘change’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvicissitas‘change, alternation’
- Englishearliest quotation 1763vicissity
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-‘to curve, bend’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvicis‘change’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvicissitas‘change, alternation’
- Englishearliest quotation 1763vicissity
Earliest quotation: 1763, Thomas Newcomb: “While to your ears, a father does unfold /…”
Formed from vicissitous + -ity
The story
Mentioned since at least 1717, in Elisha Coles's An English Dictionary.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to curve, bend’
victory, province, victim, convince, weakness, icon, witch, conviction, victor, wicked, wo, wight, convict, weakly, invincible, eviction, wile, evict, vanquish, ancona, waw, vicarious, 31 more
through Latin vicis ‘change’
Today it means
noun A change, as of fortune.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *weyk- / vicissity