volute

volute

English

WOTD – 17 October 2015

Volutes on neoclassical Ionic capitals of a modern building

Volute of the shell of a living specimen of Voluta ebraea

Diagrammatic section of the volute of a centrifugal pump

Volute typical of a stringed musical instrument, on the scroll of a double bass

Etymology

From French volute, from Italian voluta, from Latin volūta, from the feminine of volūtus, perfect passive participle of volvō. Doublet of vault.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vəˈluːt/

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Noun

volute (plural volutes)

1. (architecture) The characteristic spiral curve on an Ionic capital, widely copied in other styles and in neoclassical architecture.
   • 1856, Edward Shaw, The Modern Architect, Or, Every Carpenter His Own Master:

     This example is much richer, yet no less elegant, than the other; the volute, instead of a single spiral, is formed by three; the sculptured echinus beneath is surmounted by a guilloched moulding, and separated from the shaft by a neck […]

2. (zoology) The spirals or whorls on a gastropod's shell.
3. (zoology) Any marine gastropod of the family Volutidae.
   • 2002, Don Philpott, Florida: Gulf Coast‎, page 16:

     Common shells include frog-shells, distorsios, volutes, tulips, murex, cones, olives, marginellas, cowries, augers and the Florida horse conch, the state's official shell, which can grow up to 24in (6 1 cm) long.

4. (engineering) The casing in a centrifugal pump, whose shape is somewhat similar to architectural volutes.
5. (art) A spiral or scroll form.
6. (music) A scroll-shaped carving at the tuning head of a stringed musical instrument, similar to architectural volutes.

Derived terms

• volutite
• volutoid

Translations

spiral on Ionic capital

Armenian: գալարազարդ (hy) (galarazard), վոլյուտա (hy) (volyuta) Basque: boluta Belarusian: валю́та f (valjúta) Bulgarian: волута f (voluta) Catalan: voluta (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 涡形装饰, 渦形裝飾 (wōxíng zhuāngshì) Czech: závitnice f, voluta f Danish: volut c Dutch: voluut (nl) f Esperanto: voluto Estonian: voluut Finnish: voluutta (fi) French: volute (fr) f Galician: voluta f Georgian: ვოლუტი (voluṭi) German: Volute (de) f Greek: κοχλίας (el) m (kochlías) Hebrew: וולוטה‎ f (volúta) Hungarian: voluta (hu) Ido: voluto (io) Italian: voluta (it) f Japanese: 渦巻き飾り (うずまきかざり, uzumaki-kazari) Latvian: volūta f Lithuanian: voliuta f Norwegian: Bokmål: volutt m Nynorsk: volutt m Polish: woluta (pl) f Portuguese: voluta f Romanian: volută (ro) f Russian: волю́та (ru) f (voljúta) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: волута f Roman: voluta (sh) f Slovak: volúta f Slovene: voluta (sl) f Spanish: voluta (es) f Swedish: volut (sv) c Turkish: volüt Ukrainian: волю́та f (voljúta)

spirl on a gastropod's shell

Bulgarian: витка f (vitka) Czech: závit (cs) m

a type of shellfish

Maori: pūpū rore

casing in a centrifugal pump

Czech: spirální skříň f

scroll shaped carving at the tuning head of stringed musical instruments

Czech: šnek (cs) m Swedish: snäcka (sv) c

Adjective

The double volute spring in these shears automatically opens the blades when the user's grip relaxes

volute (not comparable)

1. (engineering) Of a spring: having a spiral curve on its tail.

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔ.lyt/

Noun

volute f (plural volutes)

1. (architecture) volute
2. (music, lutherie) scroll (of a musical instrument)

Further reading

• “volute”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Italian

Participle

volute f pl

1. feminine plural of voluto

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Latin

Participle

volūte

1. vocative masculine singular of volūtus