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velut

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word velut

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈwɛ.ɫʊt][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈvɛː.lut][1]

Forms

velut (not comparable)[1] The longer form velutī is used especially before a vowel.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from vel “or, even” and ut “as”: “even as”.[2][3][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has velut ego hāc nocte … mīrum somniāvī somnium, “for instance, last night I dreamt a strange dream”.[2] Köbler dates it from Plautus.[4]

Semantic evolution

Velut first introduces examples, “for instance”.[2][1] It also compares, “just as, like”, often introducing similes in poetry (Lucilius: velut in fabricā fervēns cum marculus ferrum … tundit, “as when a hammer beats the iron hot in the forge”), and excuses a strong phrase, “as it were”.[2][3] With the subjunctive or sī it means “as if, as though”, and it also gives the ground for an action, “as being”.[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “as, like, even as, just as, as it were”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: velut ego hāc nocte … somniāvī.[2][4]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it to introduce a simile.[2][4]
  • c. 100–24 BC – Nepos: velut in suā manū esset fortūna, “as though fortune were in his hands”.[2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy: in rēgis velut ūnicī exemplī mōrēs, “after the king's character, as being their sole model”.[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. For instance, for example.[2][1]
  2. Just as, like.[2][3][1][5]
  3. As it were, so to speak.[2][5]
  4. (with subjunctive or sī) As if, as though.[2][1]
  5. As being.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Velut.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/velut. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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