Etymograph

English

volvelle

Volvelle comes from Latin volvō ‘to roll, tumble’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *welH- ‘to turn, wind, round’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welH-1‘to turn, wind, round’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wolwō1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvolvō2‘to roll, tumble’
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500volvellum2
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500volvelle2‘a moving part of an astronomical instrument’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1521volvelle2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin volvo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English volvelle
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1521, John Skelton: “Tholomye and Haly were cunnynd and wyſe In the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welH-Wiktionary, Latin volvo‘to turn, wind, round’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wolwōWiktionary, Latin volvoreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvolvōWiktionary, English volvelle‘to roll, tumble’
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500volvellumWiktionary, English volvelle
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500volvelleWiktionary, English volvelle‘a moving part of an astronomical instrument’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1521volvelleWiktionary, English volvelle. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1521, John Skelton: “Tholomye and Haly were cunnynd and wyſe In the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *welH- ‘to turn, wind, round’

well, walk, wall, valve, vulgar, waltz, helix, divulge, vagrant, gauche, wale, vulgate, iliac, ilium, valise, valvular, 70 more

through Proto-Italic *wolwō

devolution, revolve, devolve, convolutional, 39 more

through Latin volvō ‘to roll, tumble’

volume, revolution, evolution, vault, involve, revolt, evolve, convoluted, voluminous, vulva, convolution, involution, voluble, 43 more

Today it means

noun A type of slide chart, a paper construction with rotating parts, formerly used for organization and calculation in astronomy and other subjects.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “volvelle”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin volvo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *welH- / volvelle

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