voluntarius

Latin

Etymology

voluntas (“will”) +‎ -ārius

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [wɔ.ɫʊnˈtaː.ri.ʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [vo.lunˈtaː.ri.us]

Noun

voluntārius m (genitive voluntāriī or voluntārī); second declension

1. volunteer

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	voluntārius	voluntāriī
genitive	voluntāriī voluntārī1	voluntāriōrum
dative	voluntāriō	voluntāriīs
accusative	voluntārium	voluntāriōs
ablative	voluntāriō	voluntāriīs
vocative	voluntārie	voluntāriī

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Adjective

voluntārius (feminine voluntāria, neuter voluntārium); first/second-declension adjective

1. voluntary, willing, of one’s own accord or free will, self-imposed
   • c. 4 BCE – 65 CE, Seneca Minor, Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium 47.17:

     Dabō cōnsulārem aniculae servientem, dabō ancillulae dīvitem, ostendam nōbilissimōs iuvenēs mancipia pantomīmōrum: nūlla servitūs turpior est quam voluntāria.

     I will offer [as examples] a man of consular rank serving an old woman, [or] a rich man enslaved to a slave girl, [and] I’ll show you the most noble youths [who are acting as] slaves to pantomime players: no slavery is more shameful than that which is self-imposed.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	voluntārius	voluntāria	voluntārium		voluntāriī	voluntāriae	voluntāria
genitive	voluntāriī	voluntāriae	voluntāriī		voluntāriōrum	voluntāriārum	voluntāriōrum
dative	voluntāriō	voluntāriae	voluntāriō		voluntāriīs
accusative	voluntārium	voluntāriam	voluntārium		voluntāriōs	voluntāriās	voluntāria
ablative	voluntāriō	voluntāriā	voluntāriō		voluntāriīs
vocative	voluntārie	voluntāria	voluntārium		voluntāriī	voluntāriae	voluntāria

Derived terms

• mors voluntāria

Descendants

• Catalan: voluntari
• French: volontaire, volontiers
• Galician: voluntario
• Italian: volontario
• Occitan: volontari
• Portuguese: voluntário
• Romanian: voluntar
• Spanish: voluntario
• → Albanian: vullnetar

References

• “voluntarius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “voluntarius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "voluntarius", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “voluntarius”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to die a natural death: necessaria (opp. voluntaria) morte mori
    
  • the volunteers: evocati, voluntarii (B. G. 5. 56)