Etymologically
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vel

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈwɛɫ][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvɛl][1]

Forms

vel [1]

Etymology

It is an old form of volō (“to wish”), “if you wish, choose”.[2][3][4] De Vaan and Wiktionary take it as the second person singular present, ⟨*welsi⟩ > ⟨*well⟩ > ⟨vel⟩, “you wish”; the OLD and Lewis & Short call it an old imperative.[4][1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Naevius on.[5]

Semantic evolution

Vel offers a choice left to the hearer (“or if you like”), and joins alternatives that do not exclude each other (vel … vel “either … or”), unlike aut.[2][3] It also introduces a more exact term (“or rather”, vel dīcam “or should I say”), a suggestion (“perhaps”), and an extreme case (“even”).[2][3][6]

In Medieval Latin it could mean “at least” and simply “and”.[7] The compound velut “just as” is formed from it.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – First found in Naevius.[5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: tū vellem ego vel cuperem adessēs, “I wish, or rather long, that you were here”.[2][5]
  • c. 550–1150 – Medieval Latin uses it for “and” and “at least”.[7]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. or (if you like); vel … vel, either … or.[2][3]
  2. Or rather.[2]

Adverb

  1. Even; perhaps; for instance.[2][6]
  2. At any rate, even if only.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) At least; and.[7]

Word family

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill