involutus

Forms

involūtus (feminine involūta, neuter involūtum, superlative involūtissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin involvō (“to roll up, wrap”), its perfect participle used as an adjective.^[1][3] The verb is formed from in- and volvō (“to roll”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *welu-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *uel-u- (“to wind”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates the adjective from Cicero,^[5] who speaks of making obscure matters plain by defining them, rēs involūtās dēfīniendō explicāre.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Besides the senses of the verb, “wrapped, covered”, the OLD sets out the figurative sense “obscure, hidden”.^[1] Seneca calls an obscure kind of eloquence involūta, calls one question the most obscure of all, and uses the word of gods who are veiled and not known.^[2][3][1]

The participle passed into Italian as involuto,^[3] and English took involute from it in the early 15th century, first meaning “wrapped”.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of obscure matters.^[2][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of veiled gods and uses the superlative.^[3][2][5]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as involute.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Wrapped, covered (in the senses of involvō).^[1]
2. (figurative) Not plain, obscure, hidden;^[1][3] (of gods) veiled, unknown.^[1][3]

Related words

• involvō
• volvō
• English involute

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com