Latin edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

Unknown. Natively explained a being so called because one is so large that the vola (cupped hand) envelops the former when the latter approaches from below, possibly with the same suffix as Proto-Slavic *golěmъ (large), after Maurus Servius Honoratus’s Commentary to Georgica 2, 88: Nam et volema ab eo quod volam impleant dicta sunt. Unde et involare dicimus. Whereafter it is noted dismissively, in a probable interpolation, that it is the word for “large” in Gaulish: Volema autem, Gallica lingua, bona et grandia dicuntur. sed magis dicta sunt ab eo, quod volam implicant.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

volaemum n (genitive volaemī); second declension

  1. large kind of pear

Declension edit

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative volaemum volaema
Genitive volaemī volaemōrum
Dative volaemō volaemīs
Accusative volaemum volaema
Ablative volaemō volaemīs
Vocative volaemum volaema