advolo

Forms

advolō (present infinitive advolāre, perfect active advolāvī, supine advolātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + volō (“to fly”).^[2][1] De Vaan reports Muller's derivation of volō from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelh₁- (“to raise the arm, throw”), which Walde and Hofmann rejected; he thinks a shift from raising the arm to flying conceivable for birds.^[3] If so, it is cognate with Ancient Greek βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first dated example is in Plautus, of a voice that “flew to my ears”;^[2] the OLD's first literal example is the historian Claudius Quadrigarius, of a raven that flew up and settled on a tribune's helmet.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is used of birds and insects flying towards something, as in Cicero and Pliny the Elder,^[2][4] and of sounds and images reaching someone.^[2] Of persons it is to hasten or rush towards, as Hector in Matius, and in war to swoop down on the enemy, as Cicero's “no enemy can swoop down by land”.^[2] Cicero also uses it figuratively, of swooping on something eagerly.^[2] Church Latin glosses it “fly, fly to”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a voice reaching the ears.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a bird flying to others and of an enemy swooping down.^[2][4][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of wood pigeons flying in from the sea.^[4][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fly to or towards; of sounds and images, to reach.^[2][4][1]
2. To hasten, rush towards; to swoop down on, attack; figuratively, to snatch eagerly at.^[2][1]

Word family

• advolātus

Related words

• antevolō
• āvolō
• circumvolō
• convolō
• dēvolō
• intervolō
• involō
• pervolō
• praetervolō
• praevolō
• volō
• ēvolō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de