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Origin and history of viz.

viz.

1530s, abbreviation of videlicet "that is to say, to wit, namely" (mid-15c.), from Latin videlicet, "evidently, of course," contraction of videre licet "it is permissible to see," from videre "to see" (see vision) + licet "it is allowed," third person singular present indicative of licere "be allowed" (see licence). The -z- is not an alphabetic letter, but originally a twirl, representing the usual Medieval Latin shorthand symbol for the ending -et. "In reading aloud usually rendered by 'namely.' " [OED]

also from 1530s

Entries linking to viz.

licence(n.)

late 14c., "formal authorization, official permission, permit, privilege," from Old French licence "freedom, liberty, power, possibility; permission," (12c.), from Latin licentia "freedom, liberty; unrestrained liberty, wantonness, presumption," from licentem (nominative licens), present participle of licere "to be allowed, be lawful," from PIE root *leik- "to offer, bargain, make a bid" (possibly source also of Lettish likstu "I come to terms").

Meaning "formal (usually written) permission from authority to do something" (marry, hunt, drive, etc.) is first attested early 15c. Meaning "excessive liberty, disregard of propriety" in English is from mid-15c. In Middle English spelled licence, licens, lisence, lissens, licance. There have been attempts to confine license to verbal use and licence to noun use (compare advise/advice, devise/device, and see note in OED); in the U.S., license tends to serve as both verb and noun.

Poetic licence "intentional deviation from recognized form or rule" is from 1733, earlier as lycence poetycall (1530). The licence-plate is from 1870 (of dogs and wagons before automobiles); licence-number is by 1903.

vision(n.)

c. 1300, visioun, "that which is seen," specifically "something seen in the imagination or in the supernatural" by one sleeping or waking; from Anglo-French visioun, Old French vision "presence, sight; view, look, appearance; dream, supernatural sight" (12c.), from Latin visionem (nominative visio) "act of seeing, sight, thing seen," noun of action from past-participle stem of videre "to see" (from PIE root *weid- "to see").

Also "a narrative account of a vision" (mid-14c.). By early 15c. as "a visual perception" (of something). The meanings "sense of sight, faculty that perceives by the eye;" also "act of seeing external objects" are recorded by late 15c.

In 20c. use, "distinct, vivid mental conception of a scheme or anticipation." The meaning "statesman-like foresight, political sagacity" is attested from 1926.

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wit
"mental capacity," Old English wit, witt, more commonly gewit "understanding, intellect, sense; knowledge, consciousness, conscience," from Proto-Germanic *wit- (source also of Old Saxon wit, Old Norse vit, Danish vid, Swedish vett, Old Frisian wit, Old High German wizzi "knowled
vise
early 14c., "a winch, crane," from Anglo-French vice, Old French vis, viz "screw," from Latin vītis "vine, tendril of a vine...
poulter
The commonest sort of verse which we vse now adayes (viz. the long verse of twelue and fourtene sillables) I know not certainly...
old-world
Viz. the Known World, first into two Parts, the Old and the New World; then the Old World into three, Europe, Asia, and Africa...
septicemia
He proposes the name of septicemia, as best designating the sources of the disease, viz., from putrid infection from the...
muscular
My dear Sir, I know of no Christianity save one, which is the likeness of Christ, and the same for all men, viz., to be transformed...
vampire
D'Anvers tells of a Conversation he had about a certain Prodigy, mention'd in the News Papers of March last, viz. that in...
that
Old English þæt, "that, so that, after that," neuter singular demonstrative pronoun ("A Man's a Man for a' that"), relative pronoun ("O thou that hearest prayer"), and demonstrative adjective ("Look at that caveman go!"), corresponding to masc. se, fem. seo. From Proto-Germanic *
say
Middle English seien, from Old English secgan "to utter, inform, speak, tell, relate," from Proto-Germanic *sagjanan "to say" (source also of Old Saxon seggian, Old Norse segja, Danish sige, Old Frisian sedsa, Middle Dutch segghen, Dutch zeggen, Old High German sagen, German sage
picnic
1748 (in Chesterfield's "Letters"), but the thing itself apparently was rare before c. 1800 as an English institution [OED]; it originally meant "a fashionable social affair (not necessarily out of doors) in which every partaker contributed something to the general table;" from F

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