The Spanish word 'viceversa' comes from the Latin phrase 'vice versa', which literally meant 'with position turned' or 'position being turned'. This Latin phrase was formed by combining two Latin words: 'vice' meaning 'in place of' and 'versus' meaning 'turned'. In Spanish, these two words merged into a single word while maintaining the same meaning as the original Latin phrase - indicating when something is true in reverse or when two things can be swapped.

The word 'vez' in Spanish, meaning 'time' or 'turn', is distantly related to 'viceversa' as it also comes from the Latin root related to alternation and change. You might recognize this in common Spanish phrases like 'otra vez' (another time) or 'tal vez' (maybe).

Several common English words share roots with 'viceversa'. The word 'vice' as in 'vice president' comes from the same Latin 'vice' meaning 'in place of'. The word 'versus' is directly borrowed from Latin and is still used in English to mean 'against' (as in sports matches or court cases). We also use 'vice versa' as a borrowed phrase in English with exactly the same meaning as in Spanish.