victuals: [14] Victuals are etymologically something you eat to stay ‘alive’. The word came from late Latin vīctūālia ‘provisions’, a noun use of the plural of vīctūālis ‘of nourishment’. This in turn was derived from vīctus ‘livelihood’, which was formed from the same base as vivere ‘live’ (source of English convivial, revive, survive, viper, vivacious, vivid, etc, as well as of a range of words descended from its derivative vīta ‘life’, such as vital and vitamin).
The pronunciation of the word, /vitəlz/, reflects the form in which it was originally acquired, via Old French vitaille, but its spelling represents a return to its Latin original. => convivial, revive, survive, viper, vivacious, vivid
c. 1300, vitaylle (singular), from Anglo-French and Old French vitaille "food, nourishment, provisions," from Late Latin victualia "provisions," noun use of plural of victualis "of nourishment," from victus "livelihood, food, sustenance, that which sustains life," from past participle stem of vivere "to live" (see vital). Spelling altered early 16c. to conform with Latin, but pronunciation remains "vittles."
双语例句
1. A plateful of coarse broken victuals was set before him.
