velum

See also: vélum and vellum

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vēlum (“a cloth, covering, awning, curtain, veil”). Doublet of veil.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈviː.ləm/, /ˈvɛl.əm/, /ˈveɪ.ləm/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -iːləm

Noun

velum (plural vela or velums)

1. a thin membrane resembling a veil or curtain, such as:
   1. (anatomy) the soft palate
   2. (botany) a thin membrane partially covering the cluster of sporangia near the leaf base in quillworts and their extinct relatives
   3. (mycology) a veil-like membrane of immature mushrooms extending from the margin of the cap to the stem and is torn by growth, to reveal the gills
   4. (malacology) a locomotory and feeding organ provided with cilia found in the larval stage of bivalves
   5. (zoology) a annular membrane, typically bordering a cavity, especially in certain molluscs, medusae, and other invertebrates
   6. a delicate membrane found on certain protists
2. (meteorology) an accessory cloud resembling a veil extending over a large distance; normally associated with cumulus and cumulonimbus

Derived terms

• velar (adjective)

Translations

soft palate — see soft palate

References

• “velum”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “velum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• mvule

Faroese

Noun

velum

1. indefinite dative plural of vel

French

Alternative forms

• vélum

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin velum (“veil, sail”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

velum m (plural velums)

1. velum

Further reading

• “velum”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈvɛlʊm]
• Hyphenation: vè‧lum

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin vēlum.

Noun

vèlum (uncountable)

1. (anatomy, linguistics) velum: the soft palate.
2. veil: a covering for a person or thing; as, a caul.

Etymology 2

From English vellum, from Old French velin (Modern French vélin), from Latin vitulinus (“of a calf”).

Noun

vèlum (uncountable)

1. vellum: a type of parchment paper made from the skin of a lamb, baby goat, or calf.

Further reading

• “velum” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Latin

vēla rubra (red sails)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *wekslom (note the Latin term's diminutive form vēxillum (as in pālus > pāxillus), which lends credence to this reconstruction), with two competing theories:

• From Proto-Indo-European *wegslom, from *weg- (“to weave, bind”). Cognate with English wick, Welsh gweu (“to weave”).

• Others refer it to *weǵʰ- (“to ride”), thus "that which propels"; in this case, cognate with Proto-Slavic *veslo (“oar”). This is semantically less attractive than the above theory.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯eː.lum/, [ˈu̯eːɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈve.lum/, [ˈvɛːlum]

Noun

vēlum n (genitive vēlī); second declension

1. a cloth, covering, curtain, veil, awning
   • a. 224, Ulpiānus, Dīgesta seu Pandectae‎^[1], volume XXX, section 41.10:

     Sed sī cancellī sint vel vēla, lēgārī poterunt, nōn tamen fistulae vel castellī.

     But while bar-doors or their veils can be legated, not so water-pipes or water-basins.

2. (usually in the plural) the sail of a ship
   • 8 CE – 12 CE, Ovid, Sorrows 1.2.92:

     Ausoniōs fīnēs cūr mea vēla volunt?

     Why do my sails incline toward Italian shores?
     (Ausonia: Ancient Greek name for lower Italy.)

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.103:

     velum adversa ferit

     strikes the sail head-on.

1. (anatomy) the soft palate

Inflection

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	vēlum	vēla
genitive	vēlī	vēlōrum
dative	vēlō	vēlīs
accusative	vēlum	vēla
ablative	vēlō	vēlīs
vocative	vēlum	vēla

Derived terms

• vēlāris
• vēlārium
• vēlārius
• vēlifer
• vēlificātiō
• vēlificium
• vēlificō
• vēlificor
• vēlificus
• vēliger
• vexillum

 

Related terms

• vēlābrum
• vēlāmen
• vēlāmentum
• vēlātiō
• vēlātō
• vēlō

 

Descendants

Descendants

• Italian: velo
• Old French: voil, veil
  • → English: veil
  • French: voile
    • → Bulgarian: воа́л (voál)
    • → English: voile
      • → Irish: voil
    • → Italian: voile
    • → Romanian: voal
    • → Russian: вуаль (vualʹ)
    • → Vietnamese: voan
  • Norman: vouaile
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: vel
  • Occitan: vel
• Old Galician-Portuguese: veo
  • Portuguese: véu
• → Romansch: vel
• → Romanian: văl
• → Spanish: velo

Via plural (vēla)

• Italian: vela, velo (archaic)
  • → Romanian: velă
• Old French: voile, veile, veille
  • Franc-Comtois: vouéle
  • French: voile
  • Norman: vaile
• Old Leonese:
  • Asturian: vela
  • Mirandese: bela
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: vela
  • Occitan: vela
• Old Galician-Portuguese: vea
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: vele
  • → Romansch: vela
• Sardinian: vela, bela
• Spanish: vela
  • → Chamicuro: wela
• → Classical Syriac: ܘܝܠܐ (wēlā)
• → Dalmatian: vaila
• → Old Galician-Portuguese: vela
  • Galician: vela
  • Portuguese: vela

Borrowings

• → Albanian: vel
• → English: velum
• → Hebrew: וִילוֹן (wīlṓn)
• → Old Irish: fíal
  • Irish: fial

References

• “velum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “velum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• velum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• velum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to put to sea: vela in altum dare (Liv. 25. 27)
    
  • (ambiguous) to set the sails: vela facere, pandere
    
  • (ambiguous) to set the sails: vela dare
    
  • (ambiguous) to furl the sails: vela contrahere (also metaph.)
    
  • (ambiguous) sails and rigging: vela armamentaque
    
• “velum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers