volvo and volo and volito and volubilitas and involutus and involo

One of the earliest distinctions I remember making between words in my college days was between voluble and volatile. I heard that the latter was associated with fire and believed that something volatile was something combustible, but I learned that a person who was voluble was talkative. I never wondered if there was any relationship between the terms, and never reflected on how talkativeness and combustibility could be related. Thus, I had my nice, neat categories, was very proud of myself and felt I was well on my way to eloquence.

Getting Started

Until today. I knew for years that things were far more complex than my initial understanding, because I knew that something about "flying" and "turning" was also in the root system, but I never took the time to investigate it and sort out the confusion that I might have felt if I gave the matter some thought. This and the next mini-essays, then, are meant to unravel a confusion you probably never had. But, isn't that the purpose of education? In more than one instance I have "created" problems for students in my classes, by introducing them to things that they did not know existed. By the end of the class they were seemingly weighted down with a problem that they didn't know existed a few weeks previously. However, I am doing an especial favor for you now, because I will not only weigh you down with a problem, but will remove the burden by the end of the next mini-essay.

Looking at Volvo/Volubilis, etc.

It's always best, I believe, to start with words that give us a picture or leave a clear image in the mind. So, let's start with the Latin root "volvo." The first definition of "volvo" for the ancient Romans was "modern Swedish car." Oops. Getting ahead of myself here. Let's start again.

The real first definition is "to cause to travel in a circular course, orbit, etc." It can also mean "to gather up by rolling" or "to impel forward in a rotary motion." The Latin root volvo, then, has to do with rolling or turning. We have tons of English words that pick up on the root. Let's move on, then, to volito. "Volo" and "Volito" mean "to fly about (especially applied to the imagined movement of disembodied souls)."* But volito has a secondary meaning to "flit about from one activity to another." I suppose if you do a lot of flying then some of the flying might eventually turn to flitting. Thus, the Latin word volatilis has a twofold meaning: it means EITHER "equipped for flying or able to fly" OR "fleeting or transient." Both of these meanings are also attested for volaticus, which means "flying" or "volatile, fickle." Volabilis means "able to fly."

[*Volo also means "to be willing," but it is beyond my scope now to reflect on how the two "volos" might be related. Thus, the common English word "volition" has nothing to do with flying and everything to do with willing or desiring.]

We need to turn to two other Latin words, however, to complete our tour. Volubilis turns us back to volvo and means "turning on its axis, spinning, rotating." But something that turns on its axis may also be "liable to change" or "unstable." Then, another definition of volubilis is "rolling onward" or, relating to speech, "readily flowing or fluent." Volubilitas also has the dual meaning of "the fact of being in rotatory motion" or "ready flow of words, fluency."

Finally, let's see what happens when we add the prefix in two of these words. Involo has three signifcations. The first is expected: "to fly into or at." But if you fly at something or get into something you are "rush(ing) in, upon or at, especially to attack." Thus, the second meaning of involo suggests an attack. The third likewise means "to swoop in in order to steal; seize on." Then we have involutus, which is derived from volvo rather than volo. The fourth principle part of involvo is involutus. It literally means "to be rolled inside" but has a Latin signification (which is taken over into English) as "not manifest, obscure, concealed, hidden." When it refers to deities it means "not known or veiled."

Thus, the Latin has helped us establish a fuller linguistic range of meaning for words built off of volo, volvo, volito and involo. The range of meanings is from turn or roll (volvo) to fly (volo and volito) to be fluent in speech (because it suggests the turning or rolling something well with words--volubilis) to something transient or able to fly (volatilis) to rushing in to attack or seize something (involo) to something that is hidden or obscure (involutus).

Now we are ready to see how English uses some of these terms.

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