English specific usage of "vicarious"

The usage of the term vicarious meaning:

• experienced as a result of watching, listening to, or reading about the activities of other people, rather than by doing the activities yourself: She took a vicarious pleasure in her friend's achievements. (Cambridge Dictionary)

appears to have developed only in the English language. Its origin is from Latin vicar/vicarious which were used mainly in religious political contexts:

Vicar (from Etymonline):

• The original notion is of "earthly representative of God or Christ;" but also used in sense of "person acting as parish priest in place of a real parson" (early 14c.).

vicarious:

• 1630s, "taking the place of another from Latin vicarius "that supplies a place; substituted, delegated," from vicis ".

the contemporary usage appears to be:

• from 1690s as "done or experienced in place of another" (usually in reference to punishment, often of Christ); from 1929 as "experienced imaginatively through another."

This later usage appears to be English specific as it didn't develop in other languages like French, Spanish, Italian or German, where it is still used only in relation to the position of religious or political figures.

Question:

Where does this usage originate from? Etymonline suggestion refers to a possible analogy with the punishment of Christ, actually a very common topic in many countries.

Can this usage be traced back to religious or political contexts specific only to the English history?

Solution 1:

As to the exceptional use of "vicarious" in English, the answer must be in what was different in England as opposed to other places.
The first obvious place to look is The Church. And, practice in England did differ as to "vicars".
Before Henry VIII departed ways with the Roman Church, "vicar" was a much more common post in England than other countries. Vicars had become parish priests, and, today most parishes have either a Rector or Vicar as head. This is a matter of general knowledge, which can be researched easily enough, so no particular citation will be offered. This difference in England might have been part of the change in meaning of "vicarious", but other factors were probably more important.
The Act of Supremacy(1534) by Parliament, formally made Henry VIII the head of the Church of England Wikipedia . This was the consummation of other efforts to lessen the influence of The Pope on England.
However The Church did not change a great deal in England by the removal of The Pope from supremacy. What changed the most was probably attitudes rather than practice. Church officials were now responsible to the Monarch, which in some eyes meant the Church and State were one.
Still, the general nature of church officials, including vicars, had not changed. But the attitudes of many in the general population seem to have evolved.
Many revolted against "The Church" whether headed by Pope or Monarch. Freewheeling Protestantism arose. England had a Civil War.Wikipedia
From the various conflicts of the 17th Century religious diversity became general.
However, the vicar was still responsible for his parish and tithing.Wikipedia. The Church had not let go.
For some time, "Vicar" and "vicarious" were terms in law Law Dictionary, 1708 . But the most common legal use of "vicarious", vicarious liability did not seem to develop until end of the 19th Century.Google Ngram.

Just the same vicarious seems to have have lost much of its religious sting in the 19th Century. Vicars and Rectors no longer be seen as King's publicans in robes after the Commutation Act of (1836)Wikipedia. The concept of "vicarious" may have moved away from The Church. This would have begun before the middle of the 19th CenturyUniversal Etymological Dictionary,1773
There seems no "smoking gun" to allow us to know when the term vicarious completely left The Church, and became almost entirely secular . However it is clear that the religious experiences of England in no way mirrored those of Continental Europe after Henry VIII. And, vicarious seems to have begun its secular journey with the decline of "The Church" beginning in the middle of the 16th Century.

Solution 2:

According to a University of Notre Dame Latin to English dictionary, there are 3 Latin adjective forms of the word:

vicarius, vicaria, vicarium

and the adjective meaning is:

substitute; substituted; vicarious; supplying the place of someone/something

There is an entry for "vicarius" in the 1538 dictionary of syr Thomas Eliot knight:

Vicarius, a, um,
that whiche is in the steede or place of an other. Also the seruaunte of hym, whiche is a seruant

The earliest English uses of "vicarious" are in the 1637 book Dispute against the English Popish Ceremonies:

page 71:

but also looke upon it as an Image of Christ, or as a vicarious signe of Christ standing there in Christs stead

page 74:

The Elements are actually Images and vicarious Signes standing in Christs Stead

A 1661 Dictionary Glossographia, or, A dictionary interpreting all such hard words of whatsoever language now used in our refined English tongue with etymologies has the definition:

Vicarious(vicarius) that is in stead or place of another, that supplies another mans room, and takes pains for him; as an under-servant, or Vicar.

(so already there is some evidence of the experiencing punishment for another meaning)

A transition to the next meaning "done or experienced in place of another (usually in reference to punishment, often of Christ)" can also be seen in the 1669 A brief declaration and vindication of the doctrine of the Trinity as also of the person and satisfaction of Christ:

But in things criminal, the guilty person himself, being firstly, immediately and intentionally under the Obligation unto punishment, when there is introduced by compact, a vicarious solution in the substitution of another to suffer, though he suffer the same absolutely which those should have done for whom he suffers; yet because of the Acceptation of his person to suffer, which might have been refused, and could not be admitted, without some Relaxation of the Law, Deliverance of the guilty persons cannot ensue ipso facto, but by the intervention of the Terms fixed on in the Covenant or Agreement for an admittance of the substitution.

Also clearly the 22 October 1669 sermon The waters of Marah sweetned shows such a meaning:

The Death and Blood of Christ was Vicarious, instead of many. Many deaths were summed up in his one death. He was offered upon the Cross, to bear the sins of many.

Another early example of the meaning "experienced in place of another" is in the 1675 Primitive Christianity

who was baptized for him in his stead, whence Tertullian calls it a vicarious Baptism

Here, "vicarious baptism" is a translation of the Latin Vicarium Baptisma.

The usage "experienced imaginatively through another" is older than 1929.

The 1856 Melborne Punch says:

We doubt not that the writer of the above paragraph resembles Midas in more ways than one, but really we cannot be content with the vicarious enjoyment of a joke.

The 1859 The emotions and the will says:

The life of affection is vicarious; enjoyment is sought in gratifying the wishes and identifying oneself with the interests of a second individuality.

The 10 October 1863 Saturday Review says:

To furnish another person's house with upholstery which you do not pay for, to select a library which is not followed by the inevitable bill, are special luxuries; nay, there are ladies who are said to enjoy the vicarious pleasure of ordering other ladies' bonnets, and selecting the treasures of Waterloo House for the adornment of rival charms.

The 1864 Doctor Jacob says:

He had given up his balcony to the Paulus family, and enjoyed a vicarious pleasure in the sight of the enraptured young faces around him.

The 1874 The Century, Volume 8 says:

Your true English writer, it would seem, takes a vicarious pleasure in feasting his characters.

The 1874 The Aldine: The Art Journal of America says:

... on another and longer bench, under the same noble shade, sat a row of old people, male and female, thus vicariously enjoying the sports in which they could no longer take part to advantage ...

Overall, by searching for phrases such as "vicarious enjoyment" and "vicarious pleasure" it can be seen that the "experienced imaginatively through another" usage became prevalent around the mid 1800s.