vultus

Forms

vultus m (genitive vultūs); fourth declension^[1] The older spelling is voltus, standard into the first century AD.^[2][1] Ennius and Lucretius have a neuter plural volta.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *woltu-, probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wel-tu- (“gaze, view”), which went from “gaze” to “look” to “face”; de Vaan follows Hamp in this.^[2][1] The root is *wel- (“to see”).^[4][1]

Cognate with Old Irish fili (“seer”) and Middle Welsh gwelet (“to see”), from Proto-Celtic *welo-, and perhaps with Gothic 𐍅𐌿𐌻𐌸𐌿𐍃 (wulþus, “glory, wealth”).^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[2][4] who has esse bonum ex vultū cognōscō, “I can tell from his face that he is a good man”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Vultus is first the face as it expresses feeling, “expression, look, countenance”, then the face itself, often in the plural.^[3][5] It is the face as used in looking (one's gaze), a person's distinctive features, the outward appearance of things (the face of the sun), and the aspect of abstract things, as the cheerful face of fortune.^[3][1] Döderlein contrasts faciēs, the face as a physical feature, with ōs and vultus, the face as it reflects the mind.^[6]

Church Latin glosses it “countenance, face”, and in Medieval Latin it can mean an image or statue.^[7][8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: esse bonum ex vultū cognōscō.^[3][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence: nunc gestus mihi vultusque est capiundus novus, “now I must put on a new bearing and expression”.^[3][4]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius has it for the face washed with tears.^[3][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil: dēiēcit vultum, “she lowered her eyes”.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Facial expression, look, countenance.^[3][5][1][7]
2. The face.^[3][1][7]
3. The gaze, the eyes.^[3][1]
4. Looks, features.^[3][1]
5. Outward appearance (of things); aspect (of abstract things).^[3][1]
6. (Medieval Latin) An image, statue.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill