Etymologically
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avello

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aːˈwɛl.loː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [aˈvɛl.lo][1]

Forms

āvellō (present infinitive āvellere, perfect active āvulsī, supine āvulsum); third conjugation[1] The perfect is āvellī or āvolsī (āvulsī), the participle āvolsum (āvulsum).[2][3] Horace has the old passive infinitive āvellier.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ab- + vellō (“to pluck, pull”).[2][4][1] De Vaan traces vellō to Proto-Italic *weln-e/o- and a nasal present of Proto-Indo-European *uelh₃- (“to strike”), which Latin may share with Tocharian.[5] Cognate with Hittite u̯alh- (“to hit, strike”) and Ancient Greek ἁλίσκομαι (halískomai, “to be caught”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Terence,[5] who has a father hoping to tear his son away from a mistress, and a character who expects to wrest a farm from another.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to pluck off or out, tear or wrench away, of things and of parts of the body: Verres, says Cicero, tore off the figures and returned the rest of the silver.[2] Lucretius uses it of a storm tearing away planks and beams.[3] Of people it means to part or separate, and to wean from a habit, as Varro's nurse who does not suddenly tear children from the breast.[2] It also means to take away, wrest or extort.[2][1] Church Latin glosses it to separate, tear away, withdraw.[6]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence of tearing a person away and of wresting property.[2][5][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of weaning children.[2][7]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of beams torn away.[3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of figures torn off silverware.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pluck off or out, tear or wrench away.[2][3][1]
  2. To separate, part, tear away a person; to wean from a habit.[2][6]
  3. To take away, wrest, extort.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de