Related to Greek *oikos (cf. oikos ) and Old High German wick, the Latin word vicus means 'a number of houses' and described both a village within an agricultural area ( Pagus ) and a group of houses on a street in a city (and hence often also used as a street name, e.g. in Rome; cf. [6]).
Vici were able to create wealth, had their own cults and their own officials. According to Festus (p. 502 and 508 Lindsay) some had their own political organization and held courts (partim habent rem publicam et ius dicitur), others had only the right to hold markets. They were the visible centres of p…