convolo

Forms

convolō (present infinitive convolāre, perfect active convolāvī, supine convolātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + volō² (“to fly”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives volō² from Proto-Italic *gʷela-je/o-, and finds it conceivable that this goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷelh₁- (“to raise the arm, throw”), the root of Ancient Greek βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”), though Walde and Hofmann rejected the connection.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Terence on,^[3] who has populus convolat, “the people come flocking together”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is used of people hastening together: Cicero has those who flocked from all Italy to bring him back, and furies who flock as if to the funeral of the republic;^[2][5] Livy has a crowd rushing to the consuls' chairs, and Ovid convolat omnis turba.^[2][5] In later Latin it also means to have recourse to something: in the Digest a testator turns to a second legatee, the Code of Justinian uses it of proceeding to a second marriage, and Sulpicius Severus of hastening to baptism.^[2][5][6]

Medieval writers used it of people and birds flocking together or hastening somewhere, and of the dead passing to their eternal home, as of a pope in the Annals of Piacenza; it also meant to turn to someone for help.^[7]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a crowd flocking together.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of people flocking from all Italy.^[2][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a crowd rushing to the consuls.^[5][8]
• first half of the 3rd century AD – The jurist Paulus uses it of a testator turning to a second legatee.^[2][8]
• 1159 – The Annals of Piacenza use it of a pope passing to heaven.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To flock together, assemble rapidly; to hasten (to a place).^[2][5]
2. (transferred) To have recourse to, turn to (an expedient, a second marriage).^[2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) To turn to (someone) for help.^[7]

Usage notes

The MLW records a separate medieval verb convolo, convelle, “to agree unanimously”, from the Annals of Piacenza (1271).^[7]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de