convulsion

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin convulsiō (“cramp, convulsion”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} or perhaps immediately borrowed from Middle French convulsion, used by Amyot in the 16th century.^[2][7][8] The Latin noun is formed on the past participle of convellō (“to tear loose, pull violently”),^[3][2][6] from com- and vellō (“to pluck, pull violently”).^[3][9] The medical sense already existed in Latin, in Pliny and the medical writers.^[2] The verb convulse is recorded later than the noun, and Barnhart allows that it may be a back-formation from it.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cramp or involuntary stiffening of a muscle or limb: 1585, in H. Llwyd's translation of Pope John XXI's Treasury of Health.^[2][9] Etymonline likewise has the 1580s,^[3] while Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives a first known use of 1547,^[7] and the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English the mid 16th century.^[8][6]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a medical term for cramp, and a second English use, the action of wrenching, ran from 1599 in Nashe to 1825.^[2] Milton has two massive pillars tugged "with horrible convulsion".^[8] In the 1640s it was applied to politics and society, as violent agitation (1643, in Prynne),^[2][3] and about 1700 to the earth itself, especially earthquakes.^[2][8] Johnson (1755) gave the muscular sense first and then "any irregular and violent motion; tumult; commotion; disturbance", with an example on convulsions of state.^[10] The modern medical sense, spasms alternating with relaxation and usually in the plural, dates from 1650, and the OED last records the older "cramp" in 1772.^[2] The plural for a fit of laughter appears in Pope in 1735,^[2][3] and in current British use it is informal.^[11]

Timeline

• 1585 – a cramp or involuntary stiffening of a muscle or limb (obsolete by 1772).^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged has 1547.^[7]
• 1599 – the action of wrenching, or being wrenched (obsolete by 1825).^[2]
• 1643 – violent social or political agitation.^[2][3]
• 1650 – involuntary spasms of the muscles alternating with relaxation, usually in the plural.^[2]
• before 1701 – violent physical disturbance, especially an earthquake.^[2]
• 1735 – in the plural, a violent fit of laughter, in Pope.^[2][3]
• 1801 – violent agitation of the body, in Maria Edgeworth.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A violent, involuntary contraction of the muscles, or a series of them, often in the plural: The high fever brought on convulsions.^[11][7][2]
2. A violent upheaval or agitation, especially in society or politics: the convulsions of a long civil war.^[11][2][8]
3. A violent disturbance of the earth, as in an earthquake.^[7][2][8]
4. In the plural, uncontrollable laughter: The comedian had the whole room in convulsions.^[11][2]
5. (obsolete, 1585–1772) Cramp, a spasm of the muscles.^[2][7][8]
6. (obsolete, 1599–1825) Wrenching or tearing.^[2][7][8]

Word family

• convulsionary

Related words

• convulse
• convulsive
• convulsant
• svelte
• vellicate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins