Etymograph

English

veil

Veil comes from Latin vēlum ‘cloth, covering’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *wekslom.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wekslomreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvēlum‘cloth, covering’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500veil
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wekslomreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvēlum‘cloth, covering’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500veil
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597same form

Earliest quotation: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “[I will] pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to bring’

way, always, via, vehicle, wave, halfway, wagon, wee, vogue, vector, weigh, wedge, headway, wag, vein, wonky, eunuch, venous, wey, waw, wain, vex, invective, vena, 40 more

through Latin vēlum ‘cloth, covering’

reveal, velar, 10 more

Today it means

noun Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *wekslom / veil

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