volume

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈvɒl.juːm/, US /ˈvɑːl.juːm/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English volum,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French volume (“scroll, book; size”),^[4][5] and directly from Latin volūmen (“roll of writing, coil”),^[4][5][3] literally “that which is rolled”,^[4] from volvere (“to turn, roll”),^[4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to turn, revolve”).^[4][3] Latin volvere is cognate with Gothic -walwjan and Old English wealwian “to roll”.^[5] It is related to revolve and voluble.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A roll of parchment containing writing, a large book: before 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible.^[5][6] A bound book is from about 1380 in the OED^[6] and the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Ancient books were rolled documents, and the word kept that historical sense.^[4][6] One book of a set is from 1523, from that sense in French.^[5][4][6] The bulk or size of a book is from 1530,^[5] and following the French word this led to “a rounded solid mass” (1620s) and “bulk, amount, quantity” (1621 in Barnhart, the 1640s in Etymonline).^[4][5] Speak volumes is from 1803.^[6] In science, the size of a thing in three dimensions is by 1791.^[4] Loudness or amount of sound is first found in Byron (1822),^[5] and in radio use the volume control appears in the 1920s.^[4] The verb, “to pour out in volumes”, is from 1815.^[6][2]

Timeline

• before 1382 – a roll; a book.^[5][6]
• 1523 – one book of a set.^[5][6]
• 1530 – the size of a book.^[5]
• 1621 – bulk, quantity.^[5]
• 1791 – size in three dimensions.^[4]
• 1803 – speak volumes.^[6]
• 1815 – verb.^[6][2]
• 1822 – loudness.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A book, especially one of a set.
2. A series of issues of a periodical, usually for one year.
3. The amount of space occupied by something in three dimensions.
4. An amount or quantity: the volume of traffic.
5. The loudness of a sound.
6. (computing) A storage unit such as a disk.

Word family

• volumed
• multivolume
• volumeter
• volumetric
• voluminous
• atomic volume
• molar volume
• specific volume

Related words

• revolve
• voluble
• vault
• wallow

Usage notes

In Devon dialect vellum, a form of volume, meant “a large quantity”.^[7]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)