Viz.

Etymology

Viz. is shorthand for the Latin adverb videlicet using scribal abbreviation, a system of medieval Latin shorthand. It consists of the first two letters, vi, followed by the last two, et, using . With the adoption of movable type printing, the (then current) blackletter form of the letter , \mathfrak{z}, was substituted for this symbol since few typefaces included it.

Usage

In contrast to i.e. and e.g., viz. is used to indicate a detailed description of something stated before, and when it precedes a list of group members, it implies (near) completeness.

• Viz. is usually read aloud as "that is", "namely", or "to wit", but is sometimes pronounced as it is spelled, viz.: .
• Videlicet is pronounced or in English-speaking countries.

Examples

• The intended meaning of his speech, viz. that our attitude was in fact harmful, was not understood.
• The later two problems, viz. his debt and his back pain, could not be so easily solved.
• "My grandfather had four sons who grew up, viz. Thomas, John, Benjamin and Josiah."
• The noble gases, viz. helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon, show an unexpected behaviour when exposed to this new element.

Compared with ''scilicet''

Scilicet A similar expression is scilicet, from earlier scire licet, abbreviated as sc., which is Latin for "it is permitted to know." Sc. provides a parenthetic clarification, removes an ambiguity, or supplies a word omitted in preceding text, while viz. is usually used to elaborate or detail text which precedes it.

In legal usage, scilicet appears abbreviated as ss. It can also appear as a section sign (§) in a caption, where it is used to provide a statement of venue, that is to say a location where an action is to take place.

Scilicet can be read as "namely," "to wit," or "that is to say," or pronounced in English-speaking countries, or also anglicized as .

References

References

1. ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''
2. ''[[A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. The New Fowler's Modern English Usage]]'' (revised third edition, 1998), pp. 825, 828.
3. ''[[American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]]'' (fourth edition, 2000), p. 1917
4. "'videlicet', Random House Dictionary".
5. Brewer, Ebenezer. (1970). "[[Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable]]". Harper & Row.
6. Hill, Will. (30 June 2020). "The Routledge Handbook of the English Writing System". Taylor & Francis Limited (Sales).
7. ''[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]]'' (fourth edition, 2000), p. 1917.
8. [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/148 ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin''] at Project Gutenberg.
9. ''[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]]'' (fourth edition, 2000), p. 1560.