vellus

Forms

vellus n (genitive velleris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of vellō (“to pluck, pull out”), and reports Stüber's view that it is one of the late s-stem nouns, like pondus (“weight”) beside pendeō (“to hang”);^[2] the OLD reconstructs it as ⟨*u̯el-nes-⟩ and compares ⟨vellō⟩.^[3] He traces the verb to Proto-Italic *weln-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *uelh₃- (“to strike”).^[2] The older connection with lāna (“wool”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂ulh₁-neh₂- (“wool”) was rejected by Schrijver but is kept by Meiser.^[2][1]

Varro already derived the fleece from plucking, since shepherds plucked the wool before shearing was invented.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro,^[2] who explains vestis “clothing” from it, the fleece being the whole wool shorn from a sheep;^[3] Köbler gives Catullus.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is wool plucked or shorn from a sheep, a fleece, and a piece of wool used as a wrapping or swab, as in Pliny the Elder's dough gathered up in tufts of wool.^[3][4] Virgil uses it of the silk the Chinese comb from leaves, and of fleecy clouds.^[3] It is also the fleece as the sheep's coat, as Virgil's fleeces eaten by disease, and the skin or fur of other animals, as the lion skin in Ovid; the Golden Fleece is vellus aureum.^[3][4][1]

Church Latin glosses it “fleece”,^[6] and the Bible's fleece of Gideon is one of the passages Köbler lists.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro of the fleece shorn from a sheep.^[3][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus.^[5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of silk and of fleecy clouds.^[3][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a lion's skin.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Wool shorn or plucked from a sheep, a fleece;^[3][4][1][6] a tuft of wool.^[3]
2. Something fleecy: unspun silk, fleecy clouds.^[3]
3. The fleece on a living sheep.^[3]
4. The skin, hide or fur of other animals.^[3][1]

Related words

• vellō
• lāna
• villus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f 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