Vicariously

Vicariously (vi·​car·​i·​ous·ly | \ vī-ˈker-ē-əs-li)

Merriam Webster: serving instead of someone or something else. Performed or suffered by one person as a substitute for another or to the benefit or advantage of another.

Published Uses:

• According to Merriam-Webster, empathy is defined as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.” (Sankaran)

• So if you are living vicariously through those characters you can pick up the Woolworth Tower residence of Kendall Roy’s ex-wife for $23.3 million (REZONING)

• Her songs are sermons composed of Instagram caption-worthy one-liners and perfect fodder for those whose lives aren’t nearly eventful enough to live vicariously through Walker’s gospel. (Sun)

Prefix (Latin): Vi - with force

Root (English): Vicar - substitute

Suffix (Latin): Ious - characterized or full of

Suffix (Old English): Ly - adverb

Etymology:

Geographic origin: West Rome

Older Forms:

Old English/English: Vicar - substitute

Latin: Vicarius - substitute

Proto Indo-European: weik - to bend or wind

History: in the 1630s "Vicarious" originally meant "taking place of another" from the Latin "Vicarius' which meant "that supplies a place; substituted, delegated" which was from "Vicis" meaning change in a vague sense, which came back even further from the Proto-Indo European word "weik" which means to bend.

Final Thoughts:

The oldest roots of vicariously are very odd but show how interesting language and its evolution can be, from winding to existing through someone else, you can only wonder how that came to be. Despite the irony, the word vicariously really lived through so much itself.