vault

Vault, an arched roof, and vault, a leap, both go back to Latin volvere, to turn, but came into English separately.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /vɔːlt/, /vɒlt/, US /vɑːlt/, /vɔːlt/^[4]

vault¹ arched roof

Etymology

The arched roof is inherited from Middle English vaute, borrowed from Old French voute (“vault, arch, vaulted roof”) (modern French voûte),^[1][5][2][3] from Vulgar Latin *volta, contracted from *volvita,^[1][5][2] an alteration of Latin volūtus (“bowed, arched”), the past participle of volvō (“to turn, roll”) (see volume),^[1][5] from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to turn, revolve”).^[5] The l, first written about 1400, imitates the Latin and later changed the pronunciation, as in fault.^[1][5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An arched ceiling or roof: probably before 1300 in Barnhart, about 1300 in Etymonline, 1387 in the OED; at first especially an underground arched chamber.^[1][5][6]

Semantic evolution

An enclosed arched space, especially underground, is from 1396–7,^[6] and a church crypt from about 1400.^[6] A cellar for provisions or wine is from 1500,^[6] and a burial chamber from before 1548.^[6] The vault of heaven, the sky, is poetic from before 1586.^[6] A strongroom for valuables is a vault in modern use.^[7][8] The verb, to cover with a vault, is from the 14th century.^[2][3]

Timeline

• probably before 1300 – an arched roof.^[1]
• 1396–7 – an underground chamber.^[6]
• c. 1400 – the spelling with l.^[1]
• 1500 – a cellar.^[6]
• before 1548 – a burial vault.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An arched structure forming a roof or ceiling.
2. A room with an arched roof, especially a cellar or underground storeroom.
3. A burial chamber.
4. A strongroom for keeping valuables.
5. Something arched like a vault, such as the sky.

Verb

1. To cover with a vault, or to build in the shape of an arch.

Word family

• vaulted
• vaulting

vault² leap

Etymology

The leap is borrowed from Middle French volter (“to gambol, leap”),^[1][5][2][3] from Italian voltare (“to turn”),^[1][5][3] from Vulgar Latin *volvitō (“to turn, leap”), a frequentative of Latin volvō (“to turn, roll”).^[1][5][3] Its spelling was assimilated to the arched-roof vault.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To jump or leap over: 1538 in Barnhart, the 1530s in Etymonline; at first, to leap onto a horse.^[1][5][2]

Semantic evolution

Intransitive use is from the 1560s,^[5] and to leap with the help of the hands or a pole from the 17th century.^[2] The noun, a leap, is from 1576.^[1][6][3] Vaulting, overreaching, is from Shakespeare's Macbeth (1605).^[1]

Timeline

• 1538 – to vault (verb).^[1]
• 1576 – a vault, a leap.^[1][6]
• 1605 – vaulting ambition.^[1]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To jump over something, especially using the hands or a pole.
2. To achieve something suddenly, as if by leaping.

Noun

1. An act of vaulting; a jump.

Word family

• pole vault

Related words

• volume
• revolve
• voluble
• volute

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin