victima

Victima is a Latin noun, feminine in gender, meaning “sacrifice” or “victim.” The word is attested in classical Latin as the object of a sacrifice or the person or animal offered to the gods. In Latin grammar, victima is declined with standard feminine endings (nominative victima, genitive victimae; plural victimae, victimas). The English noun victim ultimately derives from this Latin term via Old French victime.

In Roman religious practice, victima referred to the offering presented in a ritual. The victim was typically an animal, such as a lamb or bull, prepared and accompanied by ritual procedures. In some rites, a person could be designated as a victim, though this was not the normative form of sacrifice in most contexts. The term also appears in later religious and liturgical Latin, where it continues to carry the sense of an offering or sacrifice.

Influence and usage in other languages: the Latin victima gave rise to the English word victim, via the French victime. Modern Romance languages retain cognate forms such as Italian vittima, Spanish víctima, French victime, Portuguese vítima, and Romanian victimă. In contemporary English and many languages, the term has broadened to denote any person harmed or affected by a crime, disaster, or wrongdoing, reflecting the central sense of a person who bears the impact of an event.