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vault

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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

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