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The corpus record — Latin

velum

velum

sail; sheet, cloth

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

What it meant

1. velum — de Vaan

velum 'sail; sheet, cloth' [n. o] (Naev.+) Derivatives: velore 'to cover, clothe' (PL+), velamentum * cover' (Varro+), Velabrum 'a low-lying district in Rome' (P1.+), velabra [pLn.] 'instruments used for ventilating the com' (Paul ex F.)\ vexillum 'miliary standard, banner1 (P1.+). Pit. *weksh-. PIE *ueg-slo-? IE cognates: Olr.figid*, fig*, W« gweu, LCo. gwia, Bret gueaff *to weave'

2. vēlum — Lewis & Short

vēlum, i, n.root var, to cover; cf. vellus, and v. Corss. Ausspr. 1, 459,

I a cloth, covering, awning, curtain, veil: tabernacula carbaseis intenta velis, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 12, § 30: velis amictos non togis, id. Cat. 2, 10, 22: eadem (i. e. uxor) si quando recito, in proximo, discreta velo, sedet, Plin. Ep. 4, 19, 3.—So of chamber-curtains, hangings, Suet. Claud. 10; Juv. 6, 228; 9, 105: adlevare, Sen. Ep. 80, 1.—Of the awnings stretched over the theatre or other public places as a protection from the sun, Lucr. 4, 75; Prop. 4 (5), 1, 15; Ov. A. A. 1, 103; Inscr. Orell. 2219; Val. Max. 2, 4, 6; cf. Plin. 19, 1, 6, § 23: multis simulationum involucris tegitur et quasi velis quibusdam obtenditur unius cujusque natura, Cic. Q. Fr. 1, 1, 5, § 15.—
II Esp., a sail (in good prose usually in plur.).
(a) Plur.: scindere vela, Plaut. Trin. 4, 1, 18: ad id, unde aliquis flatus ostenditur, vela do, Cic. de Or. 2, 44, 187: dare, id. Or. 23, 75; Liv. 31, 45, 11; Quint. 10, 3, 7; Hor. C. 1, 34, 4: facere, Cic. Tusc. 4, 4, 9; Verg. A. 5, 281; cf. fieri, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 34, § 88: pandere, Quint. 6, 1, 52: solvere, Verg. A. 4, 574: deducere, Ov. M. 3, 663: dirigere ad castra Corneliana, Caes. B. C. 2, 25: quo utinam velis passis pervehi liceat! Cic. Tusc. 1, 49, 119: contrahere, id. Att. 1, 16, 2; Quint. 12, praef. § 4; Hor. C. 2, 10, 24: subducere, Auct. B. Alex. 45, 3: legere, Verg. G. 1, 373: tendunt vela Noti, id. A. 3, 268: ventis inplere, id. ib. 7, 23: classem velis aptare, id. ib. 3, 472.— Poet., of wings: pennarum, Lucr. 6, 744. —
(b) Sing.: navale velum, Macr. S. 5, 21, 5: in pontum vento secundo, velo passo pervenit, Plaut. Stich. 2, 2, 45; id. Mil. 4, 8, 7; id. Ep. 1, 1, 47; Verg. A. 1, 103; 1, 400; Ov. H. 13, 101: pleno concita velo puppis, id. M. 7, 491; 11, 483 al.
b Prov.: remis velisque, with oars and sails, i. e. with tooth and nail, with might and main: res velis, ut ita dicam, remisque fugienda, Cic. Tusc. 3, 11, 25; cf.: remigio veloque quantum potis es festina et fuge, Plaut. As. 1, 3, 5 (cf. the similar phrase, remis ventisque, sub remus); cf.: non agimur tumidis velis, Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 201: plenissimis velis navigare, Cic. Dom. 10, 24.—
B Trop.: utrum panderem vela orationis statim, an, etc., Cic. Tusc. 4, 5, 9: dare vela Famae, Mart. 8, 70, 6: voti contrahe vela tui, Ov. P. 1, 8, 72: velis majoribus, with more zeal, id. A. A. 2, 725; id. F. 2, 3: in quo tu ingenii simul dolorisque velis latissime vectus es, Plin. Ep. 4, 20, 2: dedimus vela indignationi, dedimus irae, id. ib. 6, 33, 10: pande vela, ac, si quando alias, toto ingenio vehere, id. ib. 8, 4, 5.

In the wild

6 of 11 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. velum (scan p. 674; entry #1934). Root candidates: *weksh-, *ueKsh-, *uegh-.

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.