Volans

This constellation used to be called Piscis Volans, the Flying Fish, before it was shortened to Volans. Flying fish are bony fishes of the family Exocoetidae from tropical waters. They have winglike pectoral fins that can be spread to glide over the water. Flying fish are unique because they are the only fish that can actually get into the air. The term Exocoetidae (exo-koitos, from exo 'outside' + koitos 'bed', 'lying down outside' or 'sleeping under the stars') refers to the common occurrence of stranded flying fish lying in boats. "Flying fish can attain enough height to carry them onto the decks of ships in their waters, where their remains are frequently discovered at dawn" [Encyclopædia Britannica]. The Exocet guided missile is named after these fish. [1] They have a similar shape to an airplane, see picture here. Volans is the present participle of volare, to fly, and comes from the Indo-European root *gwel- 'To fly; a wing'. Derivatives: volant (having wings), volatile (quickly evaporating; easily changing, fickle), vole² (taking of all card tricks in cards), volitant (fly about, move swiftly), volley (a flight of missiles). [Not in Pokorny; compare Sanskrit garut- <*gwel-ut-), wing.] [Watkins, American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots]

Klein says volant, flying, is of uncertain origin. It is possibly cognate with Old Indian garut, 'wing', garudah (Garuda), name of a mythical bird. Klein supplies a few more cognates: volage (fickle, flighty), vol-au-vent (a kind of pie, literally 'flying in the wind'), volitant (flying), volplane, vomerine (pertaining to birds). [Klein, Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary]

In Latin, ales, alitis, winged, was used alone to mean a large bird. Small birds are volucres:

“'Flying ones' (volucres, plural of the adjective volucer, 'flying,' and also of the substantive volucris, 'bird') from flying (volare), for we say 'fly' (volare) and 'walk' (ambulare) from the same root. The term vola means the middle part of the sole of the foot or the palm of the hand, and for birds vola is the middle part of the wings, by whose motion the feathers are put into action, hence volucer.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.264.]

Another translation of the same text:

"Birds are called volucres, flying creatures, from volandum, flying, For what we call 'walking' and 'flying' stem from the same mechanism. For what we call vola, the hollow, or middle part of the foot or the hand, is in birds the middle part of the wings - at the junction with the shoulders - by whose motion the flight feathers are activated; hence their name, volucres" http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/translat/25v.hti

The word volar, is from Latin vola, ‘hollow of the hand or foot’.

"Volo ‘I wish’ is said from voluntas ‘free-will’ and from volatus ‘flight,' because the spirit is such that in an instant it pervolat ‘flies through’ to any place whither it volt ‘wishes'" [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.215]

Latin voluntas comes from the Indo-European root *wel-² 'To wish, will'. Derivatives: well² (in a good or proper manner: as in behaved well), weal¹ (prosperity; happiness: in weal and woe), wealth, will¹ (to intend to, from Old English willan), will², nill, willy-nilly, gallop (from Old French galoper), wallop (from Old North French *waloper), gallant (the present participle of galer ‘to make merry’), gallimaufry (a jumble; a hodgepodge, from Old French galer, to rejoice), gala (a festive occasion), Galahad (chivalrous, noble, or pure in actions or attitudes), gallivant (perhaps an alteration of gallant, to flirt or play romantically, to travel around with no purpose except enjoyment), velleity (a mere wish or inclination), volition (a conscious choice or decision), voluntary, benevolent, malevolence, (these words from Latin velle to wish, will), voluptuary, voluptuous, (these words from Latin voluptas, pleasure). [Pokorny 2. wel- 1137. Watkins]

Volans, a fish flying, evokes the idea of a thing in a foreign environment; 'a fish out of water' is a metaphor for something being out of its element; a stranger, exile, foreign, or barbarian, the classic word for a foreigner in many places. Barbarians were hard to understand, and the word is from the Indo-European imitative base *barb-, which means 'to stammer, stutter, unintelligible'. Modern etymologists deny a link between barbarian and beard (barba) but in classical times a beard was a characteristic of foreigners because they often sported beards. Historically the country of Barbados ('island of the bearded ones' [2]) was called 'The land of the Flying fish' [3]. Atlantic flying fish are featured on Barbados's coins and stamps. Young flying fish have long barbels around the mouths, flying fish are referred to as 'the bearded flying fish'. Barbs are a component in a feather, a feather enables a bird to fly (volare). These words come from the Indo-European root *bhardh-á- 'Beard'. Derivatives: beard, halberd (a weapon of the 15th and 16th centuries having an axlike blade and a steel spike mounted on the end of a long shaft), barb¹ (the barbs of a feather), barbel¹, barbellate, barber, barbette, barbule, Lombardy (long-beards). [Pokorny bhardha- 110. Watkins]

The word bizarre, from Basque bizar, 'beard', also comes from Spanish bizarro, 'brave'. The word brave, from Italian bravo, originally meaning 'wild, savage', from Latin barbarus, 'foreigner' (through the intermediate forms *brabarus, *brabus); with change of meaning from 'wild' to 'courageous'. [Klein's Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary] Klein suggests a relationship to booby, Berber, Barbary Coast, and babble. Maybe Barabas who crucified alongside Jesus [Mark xvi 7].

Vallum ‘small winnowing-fan,' from volatus ‘flight,' because when they swing this to and fro the light particles volant ‘fly’ away from there. [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.131.]

Latin had another vallum word from where we get the English word wall. The word wall is cognate with a number of words with the meaning of foreigner. The Frankish Walha, meant foreigners, Celtic word Wahlos, and the Latin term Volcae, Germanic wealh, Wales and Cornwall are so-named because they were full of Celts who didn't speak English, the Walloons (Waalsch) don't speak good Dutch, the Swiss canton of Valais obstinately speaks French instead of German, residents of the province of Wallachia speak Romanian (Vlach) instead of German, and 'Welscher' itself is a German word that means 'Italian'! [http://www.io.com/~dierdorf/ww.html] The walnut was a 'foreign nut'. Latin vallum, wall, derives from the Indo-European root *walso- 'A post'. Derivatives: vallation (an earthwork wall used for military defense), wall, interval, from Latin vallus, post, stake, whence vallum, a palisade, wall, mycelium (main part of fungus, from myco- + Greek helos   < *halos < *walsos), stud, nail, wart). [In Pokorny 7. wel- 1140. Watkins] 

The word 'foreign' has the etymological meaning 'outside the door' and related to the word 'door', the word 'door' might be adjacent Dorado.

In preparation for flight, flying fish swim quickly towards the water's surface and leap out of the water, perhaps like an an airplane taking off on a runway. The vole, the fieldmouse (not a recognized cognate of volans, or vole², a card trick), builds and maintains what are called 'runways', runways are for taking off in flight. Vole is from Old Norse vollr, which is related to Old English weald, wald, 'forest, woodland', from the Indo-European root *welt- 'Woods; wild'. Derivatives: weald (from Weald, a once-forested area in southeast England, from Old English wald, weald, forest), wold¹ (an unforested rolling plain; a moor), from Old English weald, wald, a forest, vole¹ (the fieldmouse, from Old Norse volle, field), weld² (the yellow dye obtained from dyer's rocket, the plant Reseda luteola), wild (from Old English wilde), wilderness, wildebeest (from Dutch wild). [In Pokorny 4. wel- 1139. Watkins] [Kleins Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary]

The Rudolphine Tables have this constellation, Volans, as Passer, the Sparrow. Passer comes from the Indo-European root *pete- 'To spread'. Derivatives: fathom ('length of two arms stretched out'), patent, patulous (spreading or expanded: patulous branches, from Latin patere, to be open), pace¹, pandy (to strike on the open palm of the hand with a cane or strap for punishment at school), pass, passage, passé, compass (a device for finding directions, or drawing circles), past, expand, pasqueflower (influenced by pasque, Easter, from their flowering in April), passage, passenger, passport (from passare), spawn (the eggs of aquatic animals such as bivalve mollusks, fishes, and amphibians, from Latin pandere to spread out), petal (from Greek petalon, leaf), paella (a dish), pan¹ (shallow, wide, open container), paten or patina¹ (plate), paddle, petasos (from Greek petasos, broad-brimmed hat). [Pokorny 1. pete- 824. Watkins]

The Flying Fish is positioned under Argo Navis, the celestial ship:

"Of the monster called the flying-fish. There is a sea monster called the flying-fish, which has huge wings. When it sees a ship under sail on the sea, it raises its wings over the water and tries to keep pace with the ship for three or four miles; when it fails to keep pace, it lowers its wings and folds them. The waves carry it, exhausted, back to its home in their depths. The flying-fish represents this world. The ship symbolizes the righteous, who sail through its storms and tempests without putting their faith in danger or at risk of shipwreck. But the flying-fish, which could not keep up with the ship, represents those who at the start apply themselves to good works, but do not afterwards persevere with them and yield to all sorts of vice, which carry them, like the restless waves of the sea, down to hell. For the prize goes not to those who begin the race, but to those who stay the course" [The Aberdeen Bestiary]

© Anne Wright 2008.