Etymologically
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vultur

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈwʊɫ.tʊr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈvul.tur][1]

Forms

vultur m (genitive vulturis); third declension[1] Also spelled voltur.[2][3] Ennius has the older nominative vulturus.[2][4]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[3][1] The OLD derives it, probably, from vellō (“to pluck, tear”),[2] and de Vaan allows that it could be “the tearing bird”, though the suffix ⟨-ur-⟩ is then surprising;[3] he is not convinced by Muller's idea that it rhymes with its opposite, turtur (“turtle dove”).[3] Köbler, after Pokorny, sets up Proto-Indo-European *gᵘ̯l̥turos (“vulture”).[5] Isidore of Seville derived the name from the bird's slow flight.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it first in Ennius,[3] who has the nominative vulturus;[2] Plautus already has the derivative vulturius.[3]

Semantic evolution

Virgil, Livy and Pliny the Elder use it of the bird, and Livy of a bird of omen.[4][7] Seneca and Martial apply it to a rapacious person,[8][7] a legacy hunter.[9] Claudian has the proverb vultur prōfert cornua, “the vulture grows horns”, for something impossible.[8][4] In medieval alchemy the vulture is an emblem of mercury, and astronomers called the star Vega vultur cadēns, “the falling vulture”, after its Arabic name.[10] It lives on in vautour, buitre, avvoltoio and vultur,[1] and English took vulture from Anglo-French in the late 14th century.[11]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius has the nominative vulturus.[2][3][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy writes of vultures as a bird of omen.[4][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a rapacious person.[8][5]
  • first third of the 14th century – John Dastin uses it in alchemy for mercury.[10][5]
  • late 14th century – Borrowed into English as vulture.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A vulture.[2][4][12]
  2. (figurative) A rapacious, greedy person.[8][7][13]
  3. (Medieval Latin, alchemy) An emblem of mercury.[10][5]
  4. (Medieval Latin, astronomy) vultur cadēns, the star Vega.[10]

Word family

  • vulturius
  • subvulturius
  • vulturīnus

Usage notes

Vultur (also Voltur) is also a mountain in Apulia near Venusia, named by Horace and Lucan.[4][8][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911)., p. 12.7.12
  7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  12. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  13. ^ Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell