vultus

Latin

Alternative forms

• voltus, vultum, voltum

Etymology

From earlier voltus (the standard spelling into the 1st century CE) with regular /ol → ul/ before consonants, from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to see”), probably e-grade with regular /el → ol/. Cognate to Welsh gweld, Tocharian B yel- (“to examine”) and Gothic 𐍅𐌿𐌻𐌸𐌿𐍃 (wulþus, “glory”) (from zero-grade).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯ul.tus/, [ˈu̯ʊɫ̪t̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvul.tus/, [ˈvul̪t̪us]

Noun

vultus m (genitive vultūs); fourth declension

1. a facial expression, look, countenance

   Synonyms: ōs, faciēs

   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Proverbs 27:23:

     dīligenter agnōsce vultum pecoris tuī tuōsque gregēs cōnsīderā

     • Translation by Douay-Rheims Bible

       Be diligent to know the countenance of thy cattle, and consider thy own flocks

   1. the expression appropriate to a type of person or situation; a visage, mien, demeanor
2. (anatomy, often in the plural) the front of the head, face

   Synonyms: frōns, ōs

3. the face as involved in looking; the view, gaze

   Synonym: aspectus

4. the distinctive appearance, looks, features

   Synonym: speciēs

   1. (of beings and things) the outward appearance, face, aspect
      • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.5–7:

        Ante mare et terrās et quod tegit omnia caelum
        ūnus erat tōtō nātūrae vultus in orbe,
        quem dīxēre chaos: […]

        Before the sea and the lands and the sky that covers over all things,
        there was one face of nature in the whole world,
        which they called chaos: […]

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	vultus	vultūs
Genitive	vultūs	vultuum
Dative	vultuī	vultibus
Accusative	vultum	vultūs
Ablative	vultū	vultibus
Vocative	vultus	vultūs

A rare or archaic plural by-form is also attested:

Second-declension noun (neuter), plural only.

Case	Plural
Nominative	vulta
Genitive	vultōrum
Dative	vultīs
Accusative	vulta
Ablative	vultīs
Vocative	vulta

Descendants

• Galician: vulto
• Italian: volto
• Old French: volt
• Old Occitan: volt
  • Occitan: vòlt
• Portuguese: vulto
• Spanish: bulto

See also

• cara

References

• “uultus” on page 2340 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
• Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 1136

Further reading

• “vultus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• vultus 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)
• vultus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 1698.
• vultus in Georges, Karl Ernst, Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918) Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 2, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, column 3565
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • his eyes are always fixed on some one's face: oculi in vultu alicuius habitant
    
  • to dissemble, disguise one's feelings: vultum fingere
    
  • a feigned expression: vultus ficti simulatique
    
  • to put on a stern air: vultum componere ad severitatem
    
  • to keep one's countenance, remain impassive: vultum non mutare