'Vice' de sustantivo a prefijo (pasando por adposición)

Abstract

The Latin noun uicis is highly complex in its semantics and in its use. Since classical period we find passages where the accusative singular (uicem) functions as a kind of preposition with the value of ‘instead of’, when it is displayed next to a name in genitive. In Livy and Suetonius, but especially in the historiography of the third century onwards, ablative uice appears frequently just before the name of political or ecclesiastical charges in genitive. This makes it is reinterpreted as a prefix specialized in the name of new charges. This prefix remains extraordinarily productive in modern languages, both romances (‘vicepresidente’, ‘vizconde’, ‘virrey’, ‘viceroy’, ‘vicecan cel lie re’, ‘vicegovernatore’) as not romances (‘vice-president’, ‘vice-chancellor’, ‘Vizekönig’, ‘Vizekanzler’).