velum

See also: vélum and vellum

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *weg-

Proto-Indo-European *wegslomder.?

Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ-der.?

Proto-Italic *wekslom

Latin vēlumbor.

English velum

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.
   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) An 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.
3. (biology) a thin coating or film of mucus or phlegm.

Derived terms

• pseudovelum
• velar (adjective)

Translations

soft palate — see soft palate

References

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

Anagrams

• mvule

Faroese

Noun

velum

1. indefinite dative plural of vel

French

Alternative forms

• vélum (post-1990 spelling)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ve.lɔm/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (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

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin vēlum.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈvelum/ [ˈfe.lʊm]
• Rhymes: -elum
• Syllabification: ve‧lum

Noun

vèlum (plural velum-velum)

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”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈvelum/ [ˈfe.lʊm]
• Rhymes: -elum
• Syllabification: ve‧lum

Noun

vèlum (plural velum-velum)

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 [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), 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

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *weg-

Proto-Indo-European *wegslomder.?

Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ-der.?

Proto-Italic *wekslom

Latin vēlum

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): [ˈweː.ɫũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈvɛː.lum]

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, Ovidius, Tristia 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, Vergilius, Aeneis 1.103:

     velum adversa ferit

     strikes the sail head-on.

3. (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

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: velo
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Northern:
    • Old French: voil, veil
      • French: voile (see there for further descendants)
      • Norman: vouaile
      • → Middle English: veil, veyl
        • English: veil
  • Southern:
    • Catalan: vel
    • Occitan: vel
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: veo
    • Portuguese: véu
• Borrowings:
  • → Albanian: vel
  • → English: velum
  • → Hebrew: וִילוֹן (wīlṓn)
  • → Old Irish: fíal
    • Irish: fial
  • → Romansh: vel
  • → Romanian: văl
  • → Spanish: velo

Via the plural vēla:

• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: vela, bela
• Italo-Romance:
  • Dalmatian: vaila
  • Italian: vela
    • → Romanian: velă
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: vele
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Old French: voile, veile, veille (see there for further descendants)
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: vela
  • Occitan: vela
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Leonese:
    • Asturian: vela
    • Mirandese: bela
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: vea
  • Spanish: vela
    • → Chamicuro: wela
• Borrowings:
  • → Classical Syriac: ܘܝܠܐ (wēlā)
  • → Old Galician-Portuguese: vela
    • Galician: vela
    • Portuguese: vela
  • → Romansh: vela

Further reading

• “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, 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