volant

Forms

volant (feminine volante, masculine plural volants, feminine plural volantes)^[1] As a noun, volant m (plural volants).^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from French voler (“to fly”) + -ant, the present participle of the verb, used as an adjective from about 1140 and as a noun from 1366.^[3][4][5] voler is inherited from Latin volō (“to fly”).^[6]

The French noun was borrowed into Italian volano; the Spanish counterpart, formed in the same way, is Spanish volante (“shuttlecock”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Pèlerinage de Charlemagne (about 1140) speaks of oiseaus volanz “flying birds”.^[3][5] The noun first named, in 1366, a sail of a windmill.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective meant “fickle, light” in 1226, and, from the idea of quick, free movement came the sense “movable, mobile” (1414), as in camp volant (1548), table volante (1769) and the mobile units of brigades volantes.^[5][3] It was then applied to things that do not normally fly: poisson volant (1529), fusée volante (1655), machine volante (1678, then the first powered aircraft in 1851), soucoupe volante (1947), and in aviation personnel volant (1954).^[3][5] Feuille volante, a loose sheet, dates from 1632, and vérole volante “chickenpox” (1660) is now out of use.^[3][5]

The noun named a part of a bridge (1391) and, in machinery, a vane regulating a movement (1437), later the flywheel of an engine (1731).^[5] The shuttlecock is recorded in 1611, the game in 1671.^[5][4] A loose cloak (1584) and then a flounce sewn on a skirt (before 1673, Molière) were also called volant.^[5][8] The steering wheel of a car appears in 1860, first competing with guidon, and by metonymy volant meant driving (1903, chevalier du volant).^[5][2]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – Oiseaus volanz in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne.^[3]
• 1366 – The noun, a windmill sail.^[5][4]
• 1414 – “Movable, mobile”.^[3][5]
• 1529 – Poisson volant.^[3]
• 1611 – The shuttlecock.^[4][5]
• 1632 – Feuille volante.^[3]
• before 1673 – A flounce, in Molière.^[8][5]
• 1731 – The flywheel of an engine.^[5]
• 1860 – The steering wheel of a car.^[5][2]
• 1947 – Soucoupe volante.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Flying, able to rise and move in the air, of a creature or thing that normally cannot: poisson volant, tapis volant, soucoupe volante.^[2][1]
2. (aviation) Of flight crews and aircraft: le personnel volant.^[2][3]
3. (literary) Seeming to fly, floating in the wind: draperie volante.^[2]
4. Easily moved, not fixed: feuille volante, pont volant.^[2][3]
5. (military, police) Mobile, not at a fixed post: brigade volante.^[2][4]

Noun

1. The steering wheel of a car; by extension, driving: être au volant.^[2][1]
2. (technical) A flywheel.^[2][1]
3. A shuttlecock, and the game played with it.^[2][1]
4. A flounce, a strip of fabric sewn on by one edge: une jupe à volants.^[2][1]
5. (figurative) Volant de sécurité: a reserve or margin that keeps a process steady.^[2][5]
6. (obsolete) A sail of a windmill.^[2][4]

Word family

• volante
• volanter

Related words

• voler
• vol
• volée
• volet
• Latin volō

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a third volant, a regional and technical name for a billhook (1441), a dialect word from Gaulish *volammo (“sickle”), altered after volant “flying”.^[4][9]

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 j k l m n o Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 597a