vallum Latin · revision 2902

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=Cato|origins=la vāllus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈwal.lũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈval.lum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vallum''' ''n'' (genitive vallī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is apparently a collective formed from [[m|la|vāllus|t=stake]], the line of stakes set on an earthwork.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The further origin is uncertain: Schrijver connected [[grc|ἧλος|tr=hêlos|t=nail]], from Proto-Italic *walso-, which de Vaan finds possible but not compelling.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Cato onwards.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) Caesar has a camp fortified ''vallo fossaque'', “with a rampart and a ditch”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was the palisade of stakes on top of an earth bank, and then the palisaded bank itself, the [[m|en|rampart]] round a Roman camp.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Figuratively it was any defence, as in Cicero.^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ Medieval writers used it for walls, ramparts and ditches of all kinds, such as the earthwork Severus built across Britain.^(DMLBS) It survives as Italian ''vallo'', Portuguese ''valo'' and Spanish ''valla'',^(Wiktionary) and Germanic borrowed it as *wall-, the source of Old English ''weall'' and English ''wall''.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it for the rampart of a camp.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it figuratively for a defence.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|palisade]] on an earthwork.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A palisaded rampart, entrenchment.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A defence, protection.^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A wall, rampart; a ditch.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vāllus]]

+ * [[intervallum]]

+ * [[en|wall]]

+ * [[en|interval]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes ''agger'', a single bank like a dam, from ''vallum'', a rampart that encloses a space such as a camp.^(Döderlein 1874) A rare ''vallum'' is also a variant of ''vallus'' “small winnowing fan”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}