Etymologically
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averto

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aːˈwɛr.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [aˈvɛr.to][1]

Forms

āvertō (present infinitive āvertere, perfect active āvertī, supine āversum); third conjugation[1] The older spelling is āvortō, regular in the manuscripts of Plautus; manuscripts also have abvertō.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ab- (“away”) + vertō (“to turn”).[2][3][1] De Vaan traces vertō to Proto-Italic *wert-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *wert-e/o- (“to turn”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has quō tē āvertistī?, “where have you turned to?”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Āvertere is “to turn aside, divert” (Caesar: a chance blow turned the scabbard aside), “to turn away”, and to avert one's eyes (Ovid: āvertis vultūs).[2][4][1] It is to distract someone's attention, to direct speech away from the judges, and to shift praise or blame onto another.[2] It is “to avert, keep off” (Caesar: to avert suspicion), and in prayers “to avert” an omen (Cicero: quod Iuppiter ōmen āvertat!, “may Jupiter avert the omen!”).[2][1] In war it is “to rout” an enemy, and of persons “to estrange”, “to unbalance” the mind, and “to deter”.[2][1] Wiktionary also gives “to steal, embezzle”.[1]

Church Latin glosses it “to turn away, ward off, avert, divert, pervert”.[6] English avert comes from it through Old French in the mid-15th century.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: quō tē āvertistī?.[2][8]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius: deum rēx āvertat verba obscēna.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: quod Iuppiter ōmen āvertat!.[2][8]
  • mid-15th century – English avert.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To turn aside, divert; to turn away.[2][4][1][6]
  2. To avert (the eyes); to distract.[2][1]
  3. To keep off, ward off; to avert (an omen).[2][1][6]
  4. (military) To put to flight, rout.[2][1]
  5. To estrange; to deter.[2]
  6. To steal, embezzle.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ 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 c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de