A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

V: the Roman numeral for 5 (five); (chem.) the symbol for Vanadium,-ii (s.n.II).

V is a consonant, originally written with the same character as the letter u, representing a vowel, and in some Latin dictionaries all the entries begin with that character, none with the sign 'v.' But as the ancients themselves considered the consonant was different from the vowel 'u,' for convenience most student and other Latin dictionaries have a separate section for words beginning with the consonant, expressed with the character 'v.'

Although it might be thought that the 'v' is only used as the initial letter of a word, it is used medially as well, most noteably in the verb vivo, vixi, victum, to have life, and associated words such as vividus,-a,-um (adj.A), living, having life.

The 'w' character is made up of two letters 'v' joined together, the double 'u' (see introduction to the W section).

It may startle some to realize the Romans pronounced their initial 'v' as though it were a 'w', so that Julius Caesar's famous phrase (according to Plutarch) 'veni, vidi, vici' (I came, I saw, I conquered) may lose some of its aggressive force, at least to an English speaker, when one realizes it is pronounced 'weni, weedi, weeki.' One can see here that the consonant 'v' is very close to the vowel 'u' in the Latin language.

NOTE: Euonymus L. is also spelled Evonymus (Fernald 1950). The name for the country 'Peru' is in Latin 'Peruvia,-ae' (s.f.I), its adjective peruvianus,-a,-um (adj.A);

- habitat in Peruvia boreali, it grows in northern Peru.

In the ICBN, 2006 (Vienna Code), Article 60.7, under example 13, it is implied that the 'u' in the terminal 'ou' and 'eau,' and 'w' of people's names is rendered with a 'v' when the author seeks to intentionally Latinize such names. Such intentional Latinizations are not to be 'corrected' by later authors.

Name        Latinized epithet (genitive singular)    Latinized epithet (nominative singular) 
A. F. M. Glaziou     Abutilon glaziovii                    Glaziov -ius 
                     Oncidium glaziovii 
                     Porotrichodendron glaziovii  
                     Pleiochiton glaziovianus (epithet adj.A)
J. Bigelow           Desmodium bigelovii                   Bigelov -ius 
                Gaylussacia dumosa var. bigeloviana  
                Cereus bigelovii; Senecio bigelovii  
L. E. Bureau         Rhododendron bureavii                 Bureav -ius

The -ou- at the end of Glaziou's name in the genitive singular may also be 'glazioui' (Stearn 1983 p. 295).

Note also (to repeat from the introduction to the W section, q.v.) Gallo-Latin v "of the fifth century A.D. (P. 291 Stearn, 1983), "which was rendered sometimes by v, more often by gu." Wilhelm > Villaume, Vuillerme, Guilhem, Guillaume > Italian Guglielmo > Latinized to Gulielmus.

Vegetabile,-is (s.n.III), abl.sg. vegetabili: a plant, a vegetable;

holus,-eris (s.n.III), q.v. indicates 'kitchen or garden herbs of any kind; vegetables;

         singular         plural      
Nom.    vegetabile      vegetabilia     
Gen.    vegetabilis     vegetabilium 
Dat.    vegetabili      vegetabilibus 
Acc.    vegetabile      vegetabilia 
Abl.    vegetabili      vegetabilibus

NOTE: this is an i-stem neuter noun, see -e for declension.

Vegetabile (for eating): vegetabile oleraceum (adj.A), planta (s.f.I) oleracea (oleraceus implies 'fit for the garden', fit for eating). [[also olera,-orum (pl.n.II) abl. pl. oleris.

resembling or pertaining to vegetables: holeraceus,-a,-um (adj.A), oleraceus,-a,-um (adj.A).

planted with vegetables: (h)oleratus,-a,-um (part.A) [> L. (h)olero,-avi,-atum, 1. to plant with vegetables].

(H)Olusculum a small herb or vegetable; a little cabbage: (H)Olusculum,-i

(s.n.II), abl. sg. (h)olusculo.