Etymologically
Log in

volumen

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 21:19. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [wɔˈɫuː.mɛn][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [voˈluː.men][1]

Forms

volūmen n (genitive volūminis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin volvo (“to roll, turn”) + -men, literally a thing that is rolled up.[2][3][1] Wiktionary takes it back to Proto-Italic *welūmən, from Proto-Indo-European *wéluHmn̥, and compares Ancient Greek εἴλυμα (eíluma, “wrapper”) and Old Armenian գելումն (gelumn, “twist”).[1] Isidore of Seville explained the book's name from rolling, as in the rolls of the Hebrew Law and Prophets.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates its first use to Plautus, c. 250–184 BC.[5] Varro and Cicero use it of a papyrus roll, Cicero of the crowd of new books.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense was a roll of papyrus forming a book or part of one, and so a book or a volume.[2] Lewis & Short call this the predominant meaning, beside codex and liber.[3][2] To unroll it to read was volūmen explicāre.[6] In poetry it was any coil, fold or whirl: Virgil uses it of a horse bending its legs in turn.[2][1]

In medieval Latin it was also a charter or deed and a letter.[7][5] British writers used it of a book of a given format and of a part of a text.[8] English volume is recorded in the late 14th century as a bound book.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the word.[5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the crowd of new books.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of coils.[2][5]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains it from rolling.[4][5]
  • late 14th century – Borrowed into English as volume.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A roll of papyrus; a book, a volume.[2][3]
  2. (poetic) A coil, fold, whirl, twist.[2][1]
  3. A revolution, turn.[1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A charter, deed; a letter.[7]

Word family

  • volūminōsus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com