victual

victual · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*gʷeyh₃-“to live”
2. Latin · derived fromvīctus“that which sustains life, diet, nourishment, provision”
3. Late Latin · derived fromvīctuālia
4. Old French · derived fromvitaile
5. Anglo-Norman · derived fromvitaile
6. Middle English · inherited fromvitaile
7. English todayvictual

From Middle English vitaile, vitaylle (“food; food and drink, especially as needed for sustenance; (usually in the plural) food and drink stores or supplies; rations; provision of food and drink as a military stipend; crops”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman vitaile, vitaille [and other forms] and Old French vitaile, vitaille, victaille (“food, provisions, victuals”) [and other forms] (modern French victuaille), from Late Latin vīctuālia, the neuter plural of vīctuālis (“nutritional”), from Latin vīctus (“that which sustains life, diet, nourishment, provision”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns). Vīctus is derived from vīvō (“to live; to be alive, survive; to reside in”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”)) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs). The spelling of the modern English and French words has been influenced by Late Latin vīctuālia, though the pronunciation of the Middle English, Anglo-Norman, and Middle French words has been retained.

victual · verb²

1. Old French · derived fromvitailler
2. Anglo-Norman · derived fromvitailer
3. Middle English · inherited fromvitailen“to provide (someone, a castle, a ship, etc., or oneself) with supplies of food, drink, or other needs; (figuratively) to load (a ship with troops and materiel); to fortify, nourish”
4. English todayvictual

From Middle English vitailen (“to provide (someone, a castle, a ship, etc., or oneself) with supplies of food, drink, or other needs; (figuratively) to load (a ship with troops and materiel); to fortify, nourish”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman vitailer, vitailler, and Old French vitailler, victuailler [and other forms], from vitaile, vitaille, victaille (“food, provisions, victuals”) (see further at etymology 1) + -er (a variant of -ier (suffix forming infinitives of first conjugation verbs)).

Words from the same roots