Etymology

virtuosity

V4I1R1T1U1O1S1I1T1Y4

Today it means: The technical skills and fluent style of a virtuoso. Full definition →

English virtuoso ← Italian virtuoso ← Late Latin virtuōsu
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*weyh₁-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*wiHrós
  3. Proto-Italic*wiros
  4. Latinvir
  5. Latinvirtūs
  6. Proto-Indo-European*h₃ed-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*h₃édosder.?
  8. Late Latinvirtuōsu
  9. Italianvirtuoso
  10. Englishvirtuoso
  11. English todayvirtuosity

From virtuoso + -ity (“quality of”); the terminal -o drops out. Compare Middle English vertuosite (“virtuous quality or character”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.