velamentum

Forms

vēlāmentum n (genitive vēlāmentī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vēlō (“to cover, veil”) + -mentum.^[2][3] The verb comes from vēlum (“sail, cloth, veil”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *wekslo-, perhaps from the root ⟨*weg-⟩ “to weave” found in Celtic and Germanic; he notes that two different older forms may have merged in it.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro,^[4] who uses it in the De lingua Latina of the woollen coverings put on sacrificial victims, which he calls īnfulae.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a covering or wrapping of any kind: Celsus uses it of membranes in the body,^[2][5] Curtius of women throwing off even their last garments, and Apuleius of a natural covering for the body.^[2] Seneca has it of a veil or curtain.^[5] In ritual use it is a sacred covering, and above all the olive branch wound with wool that suppliants held out, as in Livy.^[2][5] Figuratively it is a cover or screen for something, as Seneca says of people looking for a defence and a cloak for their lusts.^[2] Stelten gives “covering, veil, shelter, protection”,^[6] and in British Medieval Latin it is also an outward appearance and, in sub vēlāmentō, under cover of.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro, of the coverings of victims.^[2][4][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of suppliants' branches.^[2][3]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus, of a covering membrane.^[2][3]
• 1st century AD – Curtius, of garments.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A covering, wrapping; a garment; a veil, curtain.^[2][5][1]
2. A ritual covering; an olive branch wound with wool, carried by suppliants.^[2][5]
3. (figurative) A cover, screen, pretext.^[2][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) Outward appearance;^[7] sub vēlāmentō, under cover of.^[7]

Related words

• vēlō
• vēlum

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press