VICTUAL

March 14, 2010

Victual
\’vi-tel\ n 1: food usable by people 2 plural : supplies of food : provisions*

Throughout this verbal voyage for the past two months, I have encountered many intriguing words and their meanings. I have tried to fit them into my life by using them in my personal stories and into the lives of others by attempting to make them easily relatable. The history surrounding the idea of victuals is quite interesting and the irony of the word’s origin makes me satisfied.
Victual (as the definition above states), is a word used to describe supplies of food or provisions. Despite the environment in which an individual receives food, the act of eating results in nourishment therefore sustaining members of society regardless of the way they are obtaining said meals; soup kitchens, shelters, school holiday breakfasts or even at your breakfast nook in your home. Nourishment is crucial to survival.
The irony appears when looking at the origin of the word; victual deriving from the Latin noun victus, which means nourishment (Page-a-Day Calendar by Workman Publishing). The word victus has given birth and nourished a new form of the word, which in turn conveys the meaning of giving back and providing nourishment. Perhaps if we adopted the attitude of paying it forward in life, we not only would be supplying good deeds but possibly receiving something more out of it instead.

*letter “e” is upside down creating sound of “uh”