Vulcanus

English

Proper noun

Vulcanus

1. Alternative form of Vulcan (“the god of volcanoes and fire”).
   • 1969 [1965], Sabine G Oswalt, “Aeneas”, in Concise Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology (World Reference Library), Glasgow: Collins; Chicago, Ill.: Follett, →OCLC, page 16:

     Then Vulcanus, at the request of Venus, made a set of armour for Aeneas.

   • 1971 February 7, Hilda Cole Espy, Lex Creamer Jr., “Places to Gor for People Who Get All Fired Up Over Volcanoes”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 September 2025:

     It came on strong with blacksmith‐shop sound effects—“clang, clang”—and all who heard it and saw it light up the sky understood why Vulcanus, the Romans’ god of fire whose legendary blacksmith shop was deep in a mountain, gave his name to montanas que arden (mountains that burn).

   • 1988 December 24, James T. Yenckel, “Let It Snow! Celebrating the Cold at North America’s Winter Festivals”, in The Washington Post‎^[2], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Out of ancient Nordic legends come ice palaces, fierce mountain kings and lovely snow queens. In St. Paul,. Minn., King Boreas wages battle with Vulcanus, the fire god.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

References

• “Vulcan, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

German

Alternative forms

• Vulkanus (rarer spelling)
• Vulkan (dated)

Etymology

From Latin Vulcānus. See Vulkan for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vʊlˈkaːnʊs/

Proper noun

Vulcanus m (proper noun, strong, genitive Vulcanus' or Vulcanus)

1. (mythology) Vulcan (Roman god of fire)

Latin

Alternative forms

• Volcānus

Etymology

Unknown; possibly borrowed via Etruscan from Doric Greek Ϝέλχανος (Wélkhanos, “Velchanos, a Cretan god of nature and the netherworld”). Has also been compared with Sanskrit उल्का (ulkā́, “meteor”). More on Wikipedia.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [wʊɫˈkaː.nʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [vulˈkaː.nus]

Proper noun

Vulcānus m (genitive Vulcānī); second declension

1. (Roman mythology) Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalwork, considered equivalent to the Greek Hephaestus and various German and Celtic gods.
2. a small volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, close to Sicily, in Italy

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	Vulcānus	Vulcānī
genitive	Vulcānī	Vulcānōrum
dative	Vulcānō	Vulcānīs
accusative	Vulcānum	Vulcānōs
ablative	Vulcānō	Vulcānīs
vocative	Vulcāne	Vulcānī

Derived terms

• Vulcānālia
• Vulcāniānus
• Vulcānius

Descendants

“Vulcan” (Roman god of fire):

• Armenian: Վուլկան (Vulkan)
• Basque: Vulkano
• Belarusian: Вулкан (Vulkan)
• Bulgarian: Вулкан (Vulkan)
• Catalan: Vulcà
• Czech: Vulkán
• Danish: Vulkan
• Dutch: Vulcaan (obsolete)
• English: Vulcan
• French: Vulcain
• German: Vulkan
• Greek: Βουλκάνους (Voulkánous), Βούλκαν (Voúlkan)
• Galician: Vulcano
• Irish: Bolcán
• Italian: Vulcano
• Japanese: ウルカヌス (Urukanusu), ウゥルカーヌス (Wurukānusu)
• Korean: 불카누스 (Bulkanuseu)
• Latvian: Vulkāns
• Lithuanian: Vulkanas
• Macedonian: Вулкан (Vulkan)
• Manx: Vulcaan
• Neapolitan: Vurcano
• Norwegian: Vulkan
• Occitan: Vulcan
• Portuguese: Vulcano
• Polish: Wulkan
• Romanian: Vulcan
• Russian: Вулкан (Vulkan)
• Serbo-Croatian: Vulkan / Вулкан
• Sicilian: Vurcanu
• Slovak: Vulkán
• Slovene: Vulkan
• Spanish: Vulcano
• Ukrainian: Вулкан (Vulkan)
• Welsh: Fwlcan

“Vulcano” (a small volcanic island north of Sicily; named for the Roman belief that it was the chimney of Vulcan):

• Italian: Vulcano
• Sicilian: Vurcanu

“volcano” (named for the island of Vulcano):

• Italian: vulcano (see there for further descendants)
• Sicilian: vurcanu (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• “Vulcānus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Vulcānus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.