vellus

Latin

Alternative forms

• villus

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“hair, wool”) (compare Greek λῶμα (lôma), Welsh gwlân, English wool, Lithuanian vìlna, Russian волна (volna)), Latin lāna).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯el.lus/, [ˈu̯ɛlːʲʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvel.lus/, [ˈvɛlːus]

Noun

vellus n (genitive velleris); third declension

1. The wool shorn from a sheep; fleece; wool.
2. The hide or pelt of an animal.

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	vellus	vellera
Genitive	velleris	vellerum
Dative	vellerī	velleribus
Accusative	vellus	vellera
Ablative	vellere	velleribus
Vocative	vellus	vellera

Synonyms

• (wool): lāna

Descendants

• Italian: vello
• Portuguese: velo
• Spanish: vellón

References

• “vellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• vellus 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)
• vellus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.