volatilis

Forms

volātilis (neuter volātile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin volō² (“to fly”) + -ātilis.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius has volatile telum, a flying missile, and Catullus uses the plural as a noun for flying creatures;^[2] Köbler's earliest source is Catullus.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It means able to fly: Cicero speaks of bestiae volatiles, Columella of poultry as a winged flock, and Ovid of Cupid as the winged boy.^[2][5] Of weapons it is flying or swift, as Virgil's ferrum volatile.^[5][6] Figuratively it is fleeting: Ovid has volatilis aetas, fleeting time, and Seneca calls glory something empty and fleeting, more changeable than the breeze.^[2][5]

In Late Latin the neuter became a noun for a bird, as in the Vulgate's volatilia caeli, the birds of the air,^[5][6] and the Vulgate also calls a spreading leprosy volatilis.^[5] Medieval writers in Britain use it of fame and rumour, of fine powder and of substances that readily evaporate.^[7] English took it from French in the 1590s as volatile.^[8]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius has volatile telum.^[2][4]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it as a noun for flying creatures.^[2][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid has volatilis aetas, fleeting time.^[2][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses the neuter as a noun for birds.^[5][4]
• 1590s – English borrows it, through French, as volatile.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to fly, winged; of a missile, flying.^[2][5]
2. Swift, rapid.^[5][6]
3. Fleeting, transient.^[2][5]
4. (Medieval Latin) Of a substance: readily evaporating, volatile.^[7]

Noun

1. (Late Latin, neuter) A bird, fowl.^[5][6]

Related words

• English volatile

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com