The term victual (often seen in its plural form) pertains to food or other provisions essential for survival. Despite its pronunciation as vittle, which may seem peculiar at first, none of the original spellings (such as the Middle English attestations vitail, vittle, vytall, vituale, vitall) contained a c. The letter was introduced in the sixteenth century to align the word visually with its Latin root, while the pronunciation remained unchanged. Victual was adopted in the early 1300s from Old French vitaille, derived from Latin victualia with the same meaning. This ultimately traces back to the word victus, signifying “that which sustains life”, with victus being a past participle of vivere, meaning “to live”. This can be further traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root gwei, also meaning “to live”. The literary use of victual has gradually decreased since the 1620s, with many now regarding it as archaic.
