volute

Forms

volute f (plural volutes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian voluta, an architectural term in Italian since before 1452, which is itself from Latin volūta, a term of architecture in Vitruvius.^[2] The Latin word is the feminine past participle of volvō (“to roll, roll up”) used as a noun.^[2][3][4][5] Littré derived the French word straight from the Latin.^[6] It belongs with voûte and volte, which go back to the same Latin verb.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1545, in Van Aelst's translation of Sebastiano Serlio's rules of architecture, for the spiral ornament of a capital; the phrase en volute “in a spiral” is as old.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From the architectural ornament the word spread to any scroll used as decoration: in 1694 it was used of box hedges shaped into scrolls in a garden bed.^[4][7] Diderot applied it to a long wig curled in scrolls in 1748.^[2] By analogy it named a sea snail with a spirally coiled shell (1752, Trévoux), and after 1761 any shape rolled into a spiral or helix, such as rising smoke or curling foliage.^[4][7][8]

In carpentry it later named the rounded foot of a stair string, on which the newel of the handrail rests (1872).^[4][7] Wiktionary also gives the scroll of a stringed instrument.^[1] The derived verb voluter first meant to wind silk thread off a spindle (1731); “to form scrolls” (1766) is literary and “to roll into scrolls” (1876) rare.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1545 – First recorded, as a term of architecture, in Van Aelst's translation of Serlio.^[2][4]
• 1694 – Used of any decorative scroll, here of box hedges in a garden bed.^[4][7]
• 1731 – The derived verb voluter appears, of winding silk thread.^[2][4]
• 1748 – Diderot speaks of a long wig en volutes.^[2]
• 1752 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records the sense “spiral-shelled sea snail”.^[2][7]
• 1761 – Marmontel uses it of any spiral or helical shape.^[7][4]
• 1872 – Littré records the sense “rounded foot of a stair string”.^[7][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (architecture) A spiral scroll carved as an ornament, especially on the capital of an Ionic column.^[8][9][2]
2. A similar scroll in wood, wrought iron or other material, as on a balcony or a gate.^[8][7]
3. En volute: shaped like such a scroll.^[8][4]
4. (carpentry) The rounded lower end of a stair string, on which the newel of the handrail rests.^[8][6]
5. Any form rolled into a spiral or helix, such as a wreath of smoke or a curling wave.^[8][9][10]
6. (zoology) A gastropod whose shell ends in a spiral.^[9][6][4]
7. (music) The scroll of a stringed instrument.^[1]

Word family

• voluter

Related words

• voûte
• volte
• involution
• Italian voluta
• Latin volvō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
3. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 622a
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)