Etymograph

English

volcano

Volcano comes from Italian vulcano ‘a small volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea’, and goes back to Latin Vulcānus ‘Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalworking’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEVulcānus‘Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalworking’
  2. Italianc. 1300–presentvulcano‘a small volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1951volcano

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEVulcānus‘Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalworking’
  2. Italianc. 1300–presentvulcano‘a small volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1951volcano

Earliest quotation: 1951, Phyllis Hambledon: “She shrank back, the words volcanoed, words that stabbed…”

Every English word from Latin Vulcānus

Today it means

noun A vent or fissure on the surface of a planet (usually in a mountainous form) with a magma chamber attached to the mantle of a planet or moon, periodically erupting forth lava and volcanic gases onto the surface.

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

Etymograph / Latin Vulcānus / volcano

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