Where does “vault” come from?
Vault comes from Old French volte, from Italian voltare, from Latin volvere meaning to turn or roll, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European welH-.
vault (English): An arched masonry structure supporting and...
Definitions
- An arched masonry structure supporting and...
Ancestry of “vault”, step by step
vault traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle French volter
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | volter | to turn or spin around; to frolic |
| 2 | Italian | voltare | to turn; to flip; to make turn; to rotate |
| 3 | Vulgar Latin | *volvitare | — |
| 4 | Latin | volvere | third-person plural perfect active indicative of... |
| 5 | Latin | volvo | I roll, tumble |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | welw- | hair, wool, grass, ear , forest; to turn, wind,... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | wēlH- | to roll, to undulate |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | welH- | to turn, to wind |
via Middle English vaute
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | vaute | An arched supporting structure; a vault |
| 2 | Old French | volte | — |
| 3 | Vulgar Latin | volta | nominative/accusative/vocative plural of voltum |
| 4 | Latin | volatus | flown, having been flown; flying; flight |
| 5 | Latin | volō | to wish, to please |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | gʷelāō | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷelh₁-éh₂-ye-ti | to throw, raise the arm |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷelH- | to throw, reach, pierce; to hit by throwing |