velamentum Latin · revision 33855

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=itc-pro *wekslo-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vēlāmentum''' ''n'' (genitive vēlāmentī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|vēlō|-mentum|t1=to cover, veil]].^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) The verb comes from [[m|la|vēlum|t=sail, cloth, veil]], which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*wekslo-]], perhaps from the root ⟨*weg-⟩ “to weave” found in Celtic and Germanic; he notes that two different older forms may have merged in it.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Varro,^(de Vaan 2008) who uses it in the ''De lingua Latina'' of the woollen coverings put on sacrificial victims, which he calls ''īnfulae''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a covering or wrapping of any kind: Celsus uses it of membranes in the body,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Curtius of women throwing off even their last garments, and Apuleius of a natural covering for the body.^(OLD 2012) Seneca has it of a veil or curtain.^(Lewis & Short 1879) In ritual use it is a sacred covering, and above all the olive branch wound with wool that suppliants held out, as in Livy.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Figuratively it is a cover or screen for something, as Seneca says of people looking for a defence and a cloak for their lusts.^(OLD 2012) Stelten gives “covering, veil, shelter, protection”,^(Stelten 1995) and in British Medieval Latin it is also an outward appearance and, in ''sub vēlāmentō'', under cover of.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro, of the coverings of victims.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of suppliants' branches.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus, of a covering membrane.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Curtius, of garments.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|covering]], wrapping; a garment; a [[m|en|veil]], curtain.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A ritual covering; an olive branch wound with wool, carried by [[m|en|suppliant|alt=suppliants]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A cover, screen, [[m|en|pretext]].^(OLD 2012)^(DMLBS)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Outward appearance;^(DMLBS) ''sub vēlāmentō'', under cover of.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vēlō]]

+ * [[vēlum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}