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convello

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word convello

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
234–149 BC, Cato
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*uelh₃-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔnˈwɛl.loː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [koɱˈvɛl.lo][1]

Forms

convellō (present infinitive convellere, perfect active convellī, supine convulsum); third conjugation[1] The supine is convulsum or convolsum;[2] Seneca has a perfect convulsī.[3]

Etymology

It is formed from con- (“together, thoroughly”) and vellō (“to pluck, tear”).[2] De Vaan derives the verb from Proto-Italic *weln-e/o-, probably a nasal present of Proto-Indo-European *uelh₃- (“to strike”), cognate with Hittite walh- (“to hit, strike”) and Ancient Greek ἁλίσκομαι (halískomai, “to be caught”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato,[4] who warns that when a branch is cut the bark must not be torn off.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to pull violently, as Ovid's food torn with a greedy tooth, and above all to tear up, pluck away or uproot something fixed.[2][3] In military language signa convellere is to pull the standards out of the ground as the signal to march, as in Cicero.[2] Of the body it is to wrench or dislocate, and by hyperbole to heave up or set moving, as Manilius' charioteer heaving his wheels up the slope.[2] Figuratively it is to undermine or overthrow a system or law, as Cicero's Tiberius Gracchus who shook the condition of the state.[2][3][1] It is also to shake violently or batter, as Virgil's sea torn open by the oars.[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “pluck, tear up”.[5] Its noun convulsiō is the source of the English medical term.[1]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato of tearing off bark.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of pulling up the standards and of overturning the state.[2][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of the sea torn by oars.[2][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of food torn with the teeth.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To tug at, pull violently.[2]
  2. To pull from its place, tear up, uproot;[2][3][5] signa convellere, to pull up the standards and march.[2][3][5]
  3. To wrench or dislocate a limb.[2]
  4. To undermine, subvert, overthrow.[2][1]
  5. To shake violently, convulse, shatter.[2][1]

Word family

  • convulsiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Convello.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/convello. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·