Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1530s, abbreviation of videlicet "that is to say, to wit, namely" (mid-15c.), from Latin videlicet, 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 a letter, but originally a twirl, representing the usual Medieval Latin shorthand symbol for the ending -et. "In reading aloud usually rendered by 'namely.' " [OED]
Wiktionary
adv. videlicet: namely, to wit, that is to say, specifically, as an illustration.
WordNet
adv. as follows [syn: namely, that is to say, videlicet]
Wikipedia
The abbreviation viz. (or viz without a full stop), short for the Latin , is used as a synonym for "namely", "that is to say", "to wit", or "as follows". It is typically used to introduce examples or further details to illustrate a point.
Usage examples of "viz.".
He owned the fact, and alledged no other excuse but what was really true, viz., that the covey was originally sprung in Mr.
Honour having applied all her oratory to dissuade her mistress from her purpose, when she found her positively determined, at last started the following expedient to remove her clothes, viz., to get herself turned out of doors that very evening.
In short, this is a sight to which no persons are admitted without one or other of these qualifications, viz., either birth or fortune, or, what is equivalent to both, the honourable profession of a gamester.
Those indeed of more modern date, seem all to be written on the same three topics, viz., an abuse of the taste of the town, a condemnation of all contemporary authors, and an eulogium on the performance just about to be represented.
A committee was likewise appointed to engage the best engravers, viz., Bartolozzi, Sherwin, Hall, etc.
On the second day it was observed seldomer, and was therefore not seen to change its course so often, viz., only 6 times, but in the same complex manner as before.
Seven other seedlings with their cotyledons in their normal nocturnal position, viz., vertical and closed, were exposed at the same time, and of these only 2 were killed.
It is remarkable that when our plants had grown a little older, viz., to a height of 2 or 3 feet, the petioles did not rise at night, and the midribs of the folded leaves were no longer bent back along one side of the petiole.
He shall also have and receive all offerings belonging to the church of Hursley, and all small tithes arising within the parish of the same, viz., the tithes of cheese, milk, honey, wax, pigs, lambs, calves, eggs, chickens, geese, pigeons, flax, apples, pears, and all other tithable fruits whatsoever of curtilages or gardens.
A planked thrashing-floor first laid down in the parish this year, viz. at Merdon.
His copyhold was seized by the lord as forfeited, but afterwards recovered, viz. in 1664.
That by the custom of the said manor, the jury at the Court or Law-day held for the said manor, have yearly used to choose the officers of and for the said manor, for the year ensuing, viz. a Reeve, a Beadle, and a Hayward, and such officers have used, and ought to be sworn at the said Court, to execute the said offices for one year until they are lawfully discharged.
Sir Isaac survives in the garden at Cranbury Park, viz. a sun-dial, said to have been calculated by Newton.
Bay territory, viz., from Jasper House by Edmonton, Carlton, and Fort Pitt to Fort Garry, would be the proper route for a telegraph.
Sir Edmund Head, viz., that with the government of the country the territorial right should also revert to the Crown, upon whatever terms might be arranged.