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vela

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word vela

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1300–1313 Dante More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin *vela
Ultimate origin
Latin vēlum

Pronunciation

Forms

vela f (plural vele)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *vēla, from the plural of Latin vēlum (“sail; cloth, veil”), which became a feminine singular in spoken Late Latin.[2][3][4][5][1] The plural was used more than the singular because a sail was made of several strips of linen.[2][6] The singular survives separately as velo “veil”.[3][1]

The same word is Dalmatian vaila, French voile, Occitan vela, Catalan vela and Spanish vela;[3][7] Old Portuguese had vea.[3][7] Romanian lacks it: Romanian val came through Serbo-Croatian.[8][7]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *wekslom, as the diminutive vexillum (“banner”) shows.[9][1] De Vaan and Wiktionary prefer the root Proto-Indo-European *weg- (“to weave”), found in Celtic and in the English word wick;[9][1][10] Devoto connects it with Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to carry”), which is semantically less attractive.[9][1][10] Peruzzi suggested that two older forms merged in the Latin word.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dante, between 1300 and 1313, with the sense of the sail that catches the wind and drives a ship.[2][4] Dante uses the image widely in metaphors of navigation, which were common in Latin and medieval literature.[2]

Semantic evolution

Latin already had the phrase vela facere “to set sail”, and Old Italian far vela and a piene vele “with full sails” (Giovanni Villani) carried it on.[2][8] From the 16th century the word could mean a theatre curtain, and poets used it for the spread wings of birds.[8][4] In literary language vela stands for a sailing ship from 1614.[2]

Later senses are the web of a cross vault in architecture (1839) and, in the 20th century, sailing as a sport (1965), with velismo (1950) and velista (1963).[2] Nautical words came from neighbouring languages: velaccio, the topgallant sail, is taken from Spanish velacho, and the noun veliero “sailing ship” may follow French voilier.[2][3] German borrowed the word in 1434 as wela.[11]

Timeline

  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses vela.[2]
  • 14th century – Giovanni Villani writes a piene vele.[8]
  • 1434 – German wela is recorded.[11]
  • 1614 – Pantera uses vela for a sailing ship.[2]
  • 1699–1700 – Velaccio appears in Gemelli Careri.[2]
  • 1839 – The architectural sense is recorded.[2]
  • 1950 – Velismo is recorded.[2]
  • 1965 – Vela is recorded for the sport of sailing.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (nautical) A sail, the shaped sheet of canvas or synthetic cloth fixed to the masts that drives a boat with the wind: barca a vela.[4][12][13]
  2. (nautical) The sails of a ship taken together, velatura: procedere con poca vela.[4][12]
  3. (literary) A sailing ship or boat: il porto era pieno di vele.[4][13][14]
  4. (sports) Sailing as a sport.[4][13][14]
  5. (architecture) Each web of a cross vault.[13][1]
  6. A curtain or awning.[4]
  7. (figurative, in the plural) The spread wings of a bird.[4]
  8. In the card game telesina, a card shared by all players.[4]

Word family

  • velista
  • velismo
  • veliero
  • velico
  • velame
  • velatura
  • veleggiare
  • veleggiatore
  • velaccio
  • velaccino

Usage notes

A gonfie vele “under full sail” is used figuratively for anything going very well;[14][15][12] far vela means to set sail.[14][15][12] In the 15th century vela could also mean a flag, and vela bianca a white flag.[8]

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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  6. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4002
  9. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  12. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  13. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Vela.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/vela. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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