clii

Theme for the remainder of the week: Random words

vitium, viti and vitii n.

Definition: kink; fault, flax, defect; (moral) failing, offence, vice; (religion) flaw in the auspices

Sententia: For today, I will only have a classical sententia, from Pyramus et Thisbe of Ovid's Metamorphoses, book 4:

"Id vitium nulli per saecula longa notatum"

That defect known to no one through long generations. [That defect being, of course, the crack through which Pyramus and Thisbe manage to talk with one another]

Somewhat surprisingly, this word is found not at all in Vergil, though quite a few times in Catullus and especially Ovid. However, perhaps this is because it is more common as a prose word than as a poetic word (eheu, now that prose month is over, I am finding all of these prosaic words!). Its etymology is uncertain.