velum

Borrowed from Latin vēlum (“a cloth, covering, awning, curtain, veil”). Doublet of veil.

• IPA^(key): /ˈviː.ləm/, /ˈvɛl.əm/

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• Rhymes: -iːləm

velum (plural vela or velums)

1. a thin membrane resembling a veil or curtain, such as:
   1. (anatomy) the soft palate
   2. (botany) a thin membrane partially covering the cluster of sporangia near the leaf base in quillworts and their extinct relatives
   3. (mycology) a veil-like membrane of immature mushrooms extending from the margin of the cap to the stem and is torn by growth, to reveal the gills
   4. (malacology) a locomotory and feeding organ provided with cilia found in the larval stage of bivalves
   5. (zoology) a annular membrane, typically bordering a cavity, especially in certain molluscs, medusae, and other invertebrates
   6. a delicate membrane found on certain protists
2. (meteorology) an accessory cloud resembling a veil extending over a large distance; normally associated with cumulus and cumulonimbus

• velar (adjective)

• “velum”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “velum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

• mvule

velum

1. indefinite dative plural of vel

• vélum

Learned borrowing from Latin velum (“veil, sail”).

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velum m (plural velums)

1. velum

• “velum”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• IPA^(key): [ˈvɛlʊm]
• Hyphenation: vè‧lum

Learned borrowing from Latin vēlum.

vèlum (first-person possessive velumku, second-person possessive velummu, third-person possessive velumnya)

1. (anatomy, linguistics) velum: the soft palate.
2. veil: a covering for a person or thing; as, a caul.

From English vellum, from Old French velin (Modern French vélin), from Latin vitulinus (“of a calf”).

vèlum (first-person possessive velumku, second-person possessive velummu, third-person possessive velumnya)

1. vellum: a type of parchment paper made from the skin of a lamb, baby goat, or calf.

• “velum” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

From Proto-Italic *wekslom (note the Latin term's diminutive form vēxillum (as in pālus > pāxillus), which lends credence to this reconstruction), with two competing theories:

• From Proto-Indo-European *wegslom, from *weg- (“to weave, bind”). Cognate with English wick, Welsh gweu (“to weave”).[1]

• Others refer it to *weǵʰ- (“to ride”), thus "that which propels"; in this case, cognate with Proto-Slavic *veslo (“oar”). This is semantically less attractive than the above theory.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯eː.lum/, [ˈu̯eːɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈve.lum/, [ˈvɛːlum]

vēlum n (genitive vēlī); second declension

1. a cloth, covering, curtain, veil, awning
   • a. 224, Ulpiānus, Dīgesta seu Pandectae‎, volume XXX, section 41.10:

     Sed sī cancellī sint vel vēla, lēgārī poterunt, nōn tamen fistulae vel castellī.

     But while bar-doors or their veils can be legated, not so water-pipes or water-basins.

2. (usually in the plural) the sail of a ship
   • 8 CE – 12 CE, Ovid, Sorrows 1.2.92:

     Ausoniōs fīnēs cūr mea vēla volunt?

     Why do my sails incline toward Italian shores?
     (Ausonia: Ancient Greek name for lower Italy.)

3. (anatomy) the soft palate

Second-declension noun (neuter).

• “velum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “velum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• velum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• velum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to put to sea: vela in altum dare (Liv. 25. 27)
    
  • (ambiguous) to set the sails: vela facere, pandere
    
  • (ambiguous) to set the sails: vela dare
    
  • (ambiguous) to furl the sails: vela contrahere (also metaph.)
    
  • (ambiguous) sails and rigging: vela armamentaque
    
• “velum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers