voler

Forms

voler (first-person singular present vull, first-person singular preterite volguí, past participle volgut); root stress: (Northern) /o̞/, (Balearic, Central, Northwestern, Valencia) /ɔ/^[1] The standard infinitive voler is used everywhere, from Eivissa to Ribagorça.^[2] Ribagorçan also has vol(d)re, and volguer is a vulgar variant.^[2][3] The DIEC2 gives the present vull, vols, vol, the future voldré, the subjunctive vulgui, volgués and the past participle volgut.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *volēre (“to want”), the Vulgar Latin infinitive that replaced classical velle.^{[2][3][5][6][1]} The DCVB explains the new infinitive as formed by analogy with the forms ⟨volo⟩, ⟨volebam⟩, ⟨volui⟩.^[3]

The same Latin verb is Occitan voler, Italian volere, French vouloir and Romanian vrea.^[7]

De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to strive after, choose”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is found from the first texts: the Homilies d'Organyà gloss a verse of Saint Paul with aizò vol dir e mostrar “this means and shows”, and say sins volem gardar de perdició “if we want to keep ourselves from perdition”.^[2] Documents of the early 13th century, such as one from the Conca de Tremp of 1242, have the preterite volg and the subjunctive vulla.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Besides “to want”, Old Catalan used voler for “to be about to” (walls that volen caure “are about to fall” in the Costums de Tortosa, 1272), for “to require” (fish sauces that no volen esser dolçes “should not be sweet”, 1520), and for “to love”.^[9] The infinitive was used as a noun, “will, desire”, by Metge (1381), Canals (1395) and Ausiàs March.^[9][2]

Coromines discusses at length the phrases voler bé and voler mal “to wish well, to wish ill”, which Saint Vincent Ferrer already uses.^[2] From them voler alone came to mean “to love”; the old nouns bon voler and mal voler were soon joined by Latinising benevolença.^[2] The sense “to love” is now labelled dialectal by the GDLC.^[6]

Fabra (1932) gives the noun voler as a synonym of voluntat “will”, and the DIEC2 adds “love”.^[10][4]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – vol dir and volem in the Homilies d'Organyà.^[2][11]
• 1242 – volg and vulla in a document from the Conca de Tremp.^[2]
• 1272 – volen caure “are about to fall” in the Costums de Tortosa.^[9]
• 1381 – Bernat Metge uses lo desordonat voler “disordered desire” as a noun.^[9]
• 1932 – Fabra's Diccionari general heads the verb and the noun separately.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. want, to intend firmly to do something, or to have someone do it: No vol sortir de casa.^[4][6][1]
2. To want to have or get something: Volen una casa amb jardí.^[4][6]
3. voler bé / voler mal: to wish someone well or ill.^[4][2]
4. (dialectal) To love.^[6][3][1]
5. (of a thing) To require, need: Aquesta feina vol paciència.^[6][3]
6. To be about to happen: Sembla que vol ploure.^[6][3]

Noun

1. will, willingness, voluntat.^[4][1]
2. (dialectal) love, affection.^[4][6]

Word family

• benvoler
• benvolent
• benvolgut
• volença
• volgudament

Related words

• volició
• benèvol
• Latin volō
• Occitan voler
• Italian volere

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 9, 376
3. ^ a b c d e f Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. voler
4. ^ a b c d e f g Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. voler
5. ^ Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 976
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. voler
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9180
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. voler
10. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. voler
11. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 2, 501