volatus Latin · revision 36208

20 Oct 2026, 20:23 by bogdan “Latin la10k: 15 new entries (la75zzo grp05)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81/79–52/50 BC, Catullus|origins=la volō}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * Classical: [wɔˈɫaː.tʊs], [wɔˈɫaː.tuːs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * Ecclesiastical: [voˈlaː.tus], [voˈlaː.tus]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''volātus''' ''m'' (genitive volātūs); fourth declension^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[af|la|volō#2|-tus|t1=to fly]], a verbal noun of the fourth declension.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Köbler dates it from Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) but Catullus already has it, saying he would not find his friend even if he were carried by the flight of Pegasus, ''non si Pegaseo ferar volatu''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It means the act of flying, of birds and other winged creatures,^(OLD 2012) as in Ovid's boy who began to delight in daring flight.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Its plural is common in writing on augury: Cicero says that men think future events are revealed by the flights of birds, and tells of a man warned by the flight of an eagle;^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) Tacitus, in the ''Germania'', mentions questioning the cries and flight of birds, and Apuleius has a household threatened by ill-omened flights.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ Martial and Claudian use it figuratively of any swift movement or course.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016) Ecclesiastical Latin kept it for flight.^(Stelten 1995) British medieval writers used it of movement through the air, as Bede does of locusts, and figuratively.^(DMLBS)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus speaks of the flight of Pegasus.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the flight of birds in augury.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the flight of Icarus.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of a swift course.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # The act of flying, [[m|en|flight]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ # (in [[m|en|augury]]) The flight of birds as a sign of the future.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)
+ # (figuratively) A swift movement or course.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[volātilis]]
+ * [[volucer]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}