involvo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɪnˈwɔɫ.woː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [iɱˈvɔl.vo]^[1]

Forms

involvō (present infinitive involvere, perfect active involvī, supine involūtum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from in- “in, on” and volvō “to roll”.^[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Caesar, of rolling along.^[2] Köbler dates Caesar about 50 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to roll along, roll on to, as Virgil's Ossae frondōsum involvere Olympum “to roll leafy Olympus on to Ossa”, and to roll over, sweep away, as the mountain fragment carrying woods and men.^[2][6][7] In Vitruvius it meant to coil up, wind a rope on a drum, and to rotate.^[2] From Cicero it meant to wrap up, cover, in Seneca to include in a book, and in Varro to envelop, and in Pliny the Elder to engulf in a condition.^[2] In Horace it meant figuratively to wrap oneself in something, and in Cicero to veil.^[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to wrap up, roll up, cover, envelop.^[8] It survives in Italian involgere and Portuguese envolver, and English involve came in the late 14th century, “to envelop, surround”; its participle gave English involute.^[1][4]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of rolling along.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of wrapping up.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of rolling a mountain.^[6][5]
• late 14th century – English involve is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To roll along, roll on to; to roll over.^[2]
2. To coil up; to wind.^[2]
3. To rotate.^[2]
4. To wrap up, cover; to include.^[2]
5. To envelop; to engulf.^[2]
6. To wrap (oneself in something); to veil.^[2]

Word family

• circuminvolvō
• involūcrum
• involūmen
• involūmentum
• involūtē
• involūtiō
• involūtō
• involūtus
• involvulus

Related words

• advolvō
• circumvolvō
• convolvō
• dēvolvō
• ēvolvō
• obvolvō
• prōvolvō
• revolvō
• subvolvō
• volvō
• English involve
• English involute

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson