Vincenzo de Vit (b. Mestrina, near

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

, 10 July 1810; d.

Domodossola Domodossola (; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in the region of Piedmont, northern Italy. It was also known as Oscela, Oscella, Oscella dei Leponzi, Ossolo, Ossola Lepontiorum, and Domo d'Ossola (due to it ...

, 18 August 1892) was an Italian Latin scholar and historian of

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

Biography

He made his studies at Padua, was ordained priest in 1836, in 1844 became librarian of the Academia dei Concordi at

Rovigo Rovigo (, ; ) is a city and communes of Italy, commune in the region of Veneto, Northeast Italy, the capital of the province of Rovigo, eponymous province. Geography Rovigo stands on the low ground known as Polesine, by rail southwest of Veni ...

and canon of the cathedral. He was thus advancing in the path of ecclesiastical honours, but under the influence of

Antonio Rosmini-Serbati Antonio Francesco Davide Ambrogio Rosmini-Serbati, IC (; 25 March 17971 July 1855) was an Italian Catholic priest and philosopher. He founded the Rosminians, officially the Institute of Charity, and pioneered the concept of social justice a ...

he entered the latter's religious order, known as the Institute of Charity, in

Stresa Stresa is a ''comune'' (municipality) of about 4,600 residents on the shores of Lake Maggiore in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in the Italian region of Piedmont. about northwest of Milan. It is situated on road and rail routes to the Sim ...

. He began his revision of

Egidio Forcellini Egidio Forcellini (26 August 16885 April 1768) was an Italian philologist. Biography Forcellini was born at Fener in the district of Treviso and belonged to a very poor family. He went to the seminary at Padua in 1704, studied under Facciolati ...

's lexicon in Stresa. Compelled to have recourse to libraries, he went first to

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

in 1861, and in 1862 to Rome, where he took up his residence, returning to Northern Italy in the summer.

Works

De Vit's idea differed from that of Forcellini and Furlanetto, it being his intention to include in his book all the periods and all the varieties of Latin down to A.D. 568. He likewise gave an exact digest of the authors of the

Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical peri ...

, and accorded considerable space to inscriptions, which he also treated in special works. His work was a third larger than Furlanetto's edition, which extension compelled him to leave out proper names. The ''Lexicon totius latinitatis'' was completed in 1879. De Vit undertook the ''Onomasticon'', which he brought down to the beginning of the letter P. The "Lexicon" allows the restoration of the exact history of each word according to writers and periods. He also worked on the history of his home town, and published his researches in eight volumes: *''Il lago maggiore Stresa e le isole Borromeo'' (Prato, 1875–78) *''Memorie storiche di Borgomanero e del suo mandamento'' (1859; 2nd ed., 1880) *''Adria e le sue antiche epigrafi illustrate'' (Prato, 1888) *''La provincia romana dell' Ossola ossia delle Alpe Atreziane'' (Pratom 1892). All these works were collected in a series of "Opere varie" (11 vols., Prato, 1875–92), which also contains numerous memoirs of antiquity and

lexicography Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretical le ...

, the best known being ''Della distinzione tra i Britanni o Brittonnni dell' Isola e i Britanni o Brittonni del continente'', (Modena, 1867–72). According to de Vit the name

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

was given to

Armorica In ancient times, Armorica or Aremorica (Gaulish: ; ; ) was a region of Gaul between the Seine and the Loire that includes the Brittany Peninsula, and much of historical Normandy. Name The name ''Armorica'' is a Latinized form of the Gauli ...

because some

Brython The Britons ( *''Pritanī'', , ), also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons, were the Celtic people who inhabited Great Britain from at least the British Iron Age until the High Middle Ages, at which point they diverged into the Welsh, ...

s had established themselves there in the time of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

, coming from the east bank of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

. These must have been the Britons, while the inhabitants of the island must have been the Britanni. A confusion of names subsequently arose. This theory has not, however, been accepted by scholars. Another dissertation (1873–74 and 1881), concerning the road of the invasion of the

Cimbri The Cimbri (, ; ) were an ancient tribe in Europe. Ancient authors described them variously as a Celtic, Gaulish, Germanic, or even Cimmerian people. Several ancient sources indicate that they lived in Jutland, which in some classical texts was ...

, and on the site of the

Battle of Aquae Sextiae The Battle of Aquae Sextiae (Aix-en-Provence) took place in 102 BC. After a string of Roman defeats (see: the Battle of Noreia, the Battle of Burdigala, and the Battle of Arausio), the Romans under Gaius Marius finally defeated the Teutones ...

, also aroused controversy.

References

Sources

* cites: ** * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Devit, Vincenzo 1810 births 1892 deaths Historians of antiquity Italian Latinists