Veil
Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French veil(e ), from Latin vela, plural of velum (see velum).
wiktionary
From Middle English veil, veyl, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French veil(“sail, veil, shroud”) ( Francien Old French voil, French voile), Latin vēlum(“sail”). Displaced Middle English scleire, scleyre, sleyre, slyre(“veil”) (compare German Schleier). Doublet of velum and voile.
etymonline
veil (n.)
c. 1200, "nun's head covering," from Anglo-French and Old North French veil (12c., Modern French voile) "a head-covering," also "a sail, a curtain," from Latin vela, plural of velum "sail, curtain, covering," from PIE root *weg- (1) "to weave a web." Vela was mistaken in Vulgar Latin for a feminine singular noun. To take the veil "become a nun" is attested from early 14c.
veil (v.)
late 14c., from Old French veler, voiller (12c.), from Latin velare "to cover, veil," from velum "a cloth, covering, curtain, veil," literally "a sail" (see veil (n.)). Figurative sense of "to conceal, mask, disguise" (something immaterial) is recorded from 1530s. Related: Veiled; veiling.
