Etymograph

English

vivat

Vivat comes from Proto-Italic *gʷīwō ‘to live, to be alive’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷeyh₃-1‘to live’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷih₃wós1‘alive, living’uncertain
  3. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷíh₃weti2‘to live’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gʷīwō2‘to live, to be alive’reconstructed
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvīvō3as vīvatliterally ‘may s/he live’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1837vivat3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *gʷíh₃weti
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin vivo
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English vivat
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1837, Thomas Carlyle, London: Chapman and Hall: “The King swears; and now be the welkin split…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷeyh₃-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *gʷíh₃weti‘to live’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷih₃wósWiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *gʷíh₃weti‘alive, living’uncertain
  3. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷíh₃wetiWiktionary, Latin vivo‘to live’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gʷīwōWiktionary, Latin vivo‘to live, to be alive’reconstructed
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvīvōWiktionary, English vivatas vīvatliterally ‘may s/he live’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1837vivatWiktionary, English vivat. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1837, Thomas Carlyle, London: Chapman and Hall: “The King swears; and now be the welkin split…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- ‘to live’

biology, kidney, hygiene, vitamin, viable, zodiac, vitality, revive, anaerobic, quicken, quicksilver, quickness, biogenesis, wyvern, 56 more

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃wós ‘alive, living’

quick, couch, vive, 32 more

through Latin vīvō

vital, vivid, vivacious, convivial, vivacity, 12 more

Today it means

intj A cry wishing someone long life and prosperity.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “vivat”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *gʷíh₃weti, Latin vivo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- / vivat

Shirt and support for this word