velo

Forms

velo m (plural velos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish velo, inherited from Latin vēlum (“veil; cloth, curtain; sail”).^[2][3][4][1] In Latin the sail sense was used mostly in the plural, and that plural gave Spanish vela “sail”.^[2][3] Corominas finds no firm reason to think that the two main senses had different Latin origins: the Romance split comes only from the plural having become general in one of them.^[2] Bénaben and the DHLF, on the other hand, report that Latin distinguished a word for the curtain from one with a long vowel for the sail.^[5][6]

The same word is Portuguese véu (Old veo), Catalan vel, French voile and Italian velo.^[7][8][9]

The Latin noun comes from *wekslom; the diminutive vēxillum (“banner”) shows the older form with /ks/.^[10][1] De Vaan and Wiktionary connect it with Proto-Indo-European *weg- (“to weave”), seen in Celtic words for weaving and in Old English wice (“wick”), and find the alternative root *weǵʰ- (“to convey”) less convincing in meaning;^[10][1] Peruzzi suggested that a second form, from the root of words for clothing, merged with it.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is in the Glosas Emilianenses, where the word is miswritten vello.^[2] Berceo uses it for the veil of the Temple of Jerusalem and for a nun's veil: a woman who wants to become a nun says prender orden e velo, vevir en castidad, “to take the habit and the veil, to live in chastity”.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

The Alfonsine prose already has the two main senses, a curtain or cloth that covers something (the veil of the Temple) and the consecrated veil of nuns, with the phrase poner velo for the consecration of a nun.^[13] Nebrija in about 1495 distinguished the sacred veil of nuns, a woman's head-veil and the veil of the Temple.^[2][14] Covarrubias in 1611 added the veil worn by a bride, from which the couple were called velado and velada, and the figurative sense of a cover or excuse.^[15] The verb velar “to cover with a veil” came to mean “to marry” from that ceremony;^[2][3] velada “lawful wife” is already in the Cid.^[2][3]

Autoridades added the extended sense of anything, especially something dark, that hinders the sight of something else,^[16] and the Academy's later editions recorded the white band laid over the couple at the nuptial mass (1817), the feast of a nun's profession and the figurative pretext (1843), and the woman's street veil of tulle or gauze worn with a hat (1899).^[17][18][19] The anatomical velo del paladar “soft palate” reflects a sense used in scientific Latin from 1771.^[20][4]

The word passed into Chavacano as velo and into Tagalog belo and Central Bikol belo.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 950 – the Glosas Emilianenses, spelt vello.^[2][3]
• c. 1236 – Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo: prender orden e velo.^[11]
• 1256–1300 – the Alfonsine laws speak of poner velo to virgins of a religious order.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija lists the nun's veil, the woman's veil and the Temple veil.^[2][14]
• 1563 – first record in the Americas, crosses hung with black veils in Yucatán.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the bride's veil and the figurative sense “cover, excuse”.^[15]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines the curtain, the woman's veil and the nun's veil.^[16]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the band of white gauze of the nuptial mass.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin velum.^[22]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the woman's street veil of tulle or gauze.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A curtain (cortina) or cloth that covers something.^[4][23]
2. A veil of tulle, gauze or other thin cloth with which women covered the head, neck and sometimes the face; the trimming of tulle on a mantilla; a veil fixed to a hat over the face.^[4][23][1]
3. The consecrated veil that covers the head and shoulders of a nun (monja): La novicia recibió el velo en mayo.^[4][23]
4. The humeral veil of a priest.^[4][23]
5. Anything thin, light or floating that partly hides something else: un velo de niebla.^[4][23]
6. A pretext (pretexto) or excuse used to hide or soften the truth; anything that conceals knowledge of something else.^[4][23]
7. Confusion or darkness of the understanding that prevents one from seeing a matter clearly.^[4][23]
8. The feast held when a nun makes her profession.^[4][23]
9. (fishing) A net fixed to the end of a long pole.^[4][23]
10. (historical) The white band laid over the husband's shoulders and the wife's head at the nuptial mass.^[4][23]
11. (anatomy) velo del paladar, the soft palate.^[4]

Word family

• velar
• velillo

Related words

• vela
• revelar
• develar
• Latin velum
• Portuguese véu

Usage notes

Tomar el velo or, in Old Spanish, prender velo means to become a nun.^[12][13] The white band of the nuptial mass is also called yugo.^[24][23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 761
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. velo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. velo
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. velo
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. voile
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 7060
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. velum
9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3498
10. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. velo
12. ^ a b Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 780
13. ^ a b c Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. velo
14. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. velo
15. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1374
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 437
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 881
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 734
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 1008
20. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. velo
21. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. velo
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1076
23. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. velo
24. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. yugo