provolo

Forms

prōvolō (present infinitive prōvolāre, perfect active prōvolāvī, supine prōvolātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- (“forth”) + 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”), since raising the arm could have come to mean flying when said of birds, though Walde and Hofmann rejected the link.^[4] If so, it is cognate with Ancient Greek βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest passage is in the annalist Quadrigarius, quoted by Gellius, in which the parents of hostages rush out into the street with their hair loose, capillō passō in viam prōvolārunt.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is used mostly of people rushing or dashing forward: Caesar has a sudden sally with all forces, Livy Romulus hurrying to the front line and two Fabii charging out with levelled spears, and Phaedrus a panther that bursts out and slaughters the flock.^[2][7] Lucretius uses it of things that shoot forward, such as the sound of thunder.^[2][8]

The literal sense, to fly out, is found later, in Pliny the Elder of chicks and bees leaving and in Apuleius of Cupid flying off on mended wings.^[2][9] The TLL notes that manuscripts often confuse it with pervolō¹.^[6]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the sound of thunder shooting forth.^[2][10]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of a sudden sally.^[2][10]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of warriors dashing forward.^[2][10]
• c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it of a panther bursting out.^[2][10]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of chicks and bees flying out.^[2][10]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of Cupid flying away.^[2][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fly out or forth.^[2][5][9]
2. To rush forth, dash forward.^[2][5][8]
3. (of things) To shoot forward.^[2][8]

Related words

• volō²
• ēvolō
• pervolō¹

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de