English
velvet
Velvet comes from Old Occitan veluet, from Latin villus ‘shaggy hair, tuft of hair’, and ultimately from vellus ‘fleece’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvellus‘fleece’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvillus‘shaggy hair, tuft of hair’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*villutittusreconstructed
- Old Occitanc. 950–1500veluet
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500velvet
- Englishearliest quotation 1575same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvellus‘fleece’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvillus‘shaggy hair, tuft of hair’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*villutittusreconstructed
- Old Occitanc. 950–1500veluet
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500velvet
- Englishearliest quotation 1575same form
Earliest quotation: 1575, Jacques du Fouilloux, Of the Termes of Venery: “His [a hart's] head when it commeth firſt out,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- ‘hair, wool’
value, wild, equivalent, valid, wool, valuation, vale, avail, valiant, fluff, vail, flannel, valour, wield, cuckold, lanolin, valorous, woll, 44 more
through Latin villus ‘shaggy hair, tuft of hair’
Today it means
noun A closely woven fabric (originally of silk, now also of cotton or man-made fibres) with a thick short pile on one side.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin vellus / velvet