circumvolo

Forms

circumvolō (present infinitive circumvolāre, perfect active circumvolāvī, supine circumvolātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin circum- + volō² (“to fly”).^[2][1][3] For the simple verb de Vaan finds it conceivable, with Muller, that it continues Proto-Italic *gʷela-je/o-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelh₁- (“to raise the arm, throw”), the meaning having shifted to flying when used of birds;^[4] Walde and Hofmann rejected the connection.^[4] If so, it is cognate with Ancient Greek βάλλω (bállō, “to throw, hit”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short find it no earlier than the Augustan age.^[5] The OLD's first example is in Virgil's Aeneid, of the Harpies flying round their prey: turba sonāns praedam pedibus circumvolat uncīs.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Virgil and Horace use it of night, darkness and death hovering around someone,^[2][5] and Horace of Jest and Cupid fluttering round.^[2] Pliny the Elder uses it of a ship circled by a halcyon, and Quintilian of young birds leaving the nest to fly round it.^[2][5] Of people it meant to dart round: Velleius Paterculus has Telesinus darting round the ranks of his army.^[2][6] Of things it meant to rush round or encircle, as the sea round the coasts of the Peloponnese in Manilius.^[2][6] Columella uses it intransitively of chicks flying about a hen.^[2] Church Latin kept the sense of flying about.^[7]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the Harpies flying round their prey.^[2][8]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of death on black wings.^[5][8]
• c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius Paterculus uses it of a commander darting round his ranks.^[2][8]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of chicks flying about a hen.^[2][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a ship circled by a halcyon.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fly or hover around.^[2][5]
2. Of people, to run or dart around.^[2][5]
3. Of things, to rush round, encircle.^[2][6]
4. (intransitive) To fly or flutter about.^[2]

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 k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de