Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Viaticum
1.
(Rom. Antiq.)
An allowance for traveling expenses made to those who were sent into the provinces to exercise any office or perform any service.
2.
Provisions for a journey.
Davies (Wit’s Pilgr.).
3.
(R. C. Ch.)
The communion, or eucharist, when given to persons in danger of death.
Webster 1828 Edition
Viaticum
VIAT'ICUM
,Noun.
1.
Provisions for a journey.2.
Among the ancient Romans, an allowance to officers who were sent into the provinces to exercise any office or perform any service, also to the officers and soldiers of the army.3.
In the Romish church, the communion or eucharist given to persons in their last moment.Definition 2024
viaticum
viaticum
English
Noun
viaticum (plural viaticums or viatica)
- The Eucharist, when given to a person who is dying or one in danger of death.
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 37:
- from Anglo-Saxon times there had been a deep conviction that to receive the viaticum was a virtual death sentence which would make subsequent recovery impossible.
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 37:
- Provisions, money, or other supplies given to someone setting off on a long journey (often figurative).
- 1885, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 20:
- Towards night-fall he entered a town called Sa’adiyah where he alighted and took out somewhat of his viaticum and ate
- 1971, Anthony Burgess, M/F, Penguin 2004, p. 184:
- That viaticum I had been made to drink had undoubtedly been spiked with cantharides or something
- 1885, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 20:
Translations
Eucharist
Latin
Etymology
Substantivization of the neuter form of the adjective viāticus (“pertaining to a journey or traveling”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /wiˈaː.ti.kum/, [wɪˈaː.tɪ.kũ]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /viˈa.ti.kum/, [viˈaː.ti.kum], [ˈvi̯aː.ti.kum]
Noun
viāticum n (genitive viāticī); second declension
- travelling-money; provision for a journey
- (figuratively) a journey
- resources; means
- money made abroad, especially as a soldier, or used to travel abroad
Inflection
Second declension.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | viāticum | viātica |
| genitive | viāticī | viāticōrum |
| dative | viāticō | viāticīs |
| accusative | viāticum | viātica |
| ablative | viāticō | viāticīs |
| vocative | viāticum | viātica |
Derived terms
- viāticātus
- viāticulum
Related terms
Descendants
References
- viaticum in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- viaticum in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- VIATICUM in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “viaticum”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
- viaticum in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- viaticum in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin