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dispello

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word dispello

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*pl-n(e)-h₂-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin pello
Latin appello
French appeler
French appel
French rappeler
Latin appellatio
Latin pulsus
French pouls
Latin compello
Latin dispello
Latin expello
Latin impello
Latin impulsus
Latin depello
Latin repello
Latin propello
Latin perpello
Latin pulto

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [dɪsˈpɛl.loː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [disˈpɛl.lo][1]

Forms

dispellō (present infinitive dispellere, perfect active dispulī, supine dispulsum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- (“apart”) + pellō (“to drive, push”).[2][3][1][4] De Vaan traces pellō to Proto-Italic *pelna- and Proto-Indo-European *pl-n(e)-h₂- (“to approach”), explaining the meaning by a shift from bringing something closer to pushing it;[4] Umbrian ampentu, used of an act at the sacrifice, has the same nasal present.[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek πίλναμαι (pílnamai, “to approach”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL date it from Plautus,[4][3] but the TLL notes that forms of the present stem are rare, found only a few times in Seneca, Statius, Serenus Sammonicus and Ammianus.[3] The OLD's earliest example is Cicero's pecudēs quae dispulsae suī generis sequuntur gregēs, “cattle that, when scattered, follow herds of their own kind”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to drive apart or scatter by force, of animals, people and ships.[2][3][5] Lucretius uses it of matter scattered from its union.[5] Figuratively it means to drive away a condition: in Cicero, philosophy removes darkness from the mind as from the eyes.[2] In Virgil Sleep parts the air and scatters the shadows.[2] Servius explains it as “separated” and notes the difference between the prefixes ⟨dī-⟩ and ⟨dē-⟩.[3] Lewis & Short call it rare but classical.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – First attested, in Plautus.[4][3][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius, of scattered matter.[5][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of scattered cattle and of darkness driven from the mind.[2][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of ships scattered by a storm and of shadows.[2][5][6]
  • c. 1400 – English borrows it as dispel.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To drive apart, scatter, disperse.[2][5][1]
  2. (figurative) To drive away, dispel (a condition, a feeling).[2][5][1]
  3. To part, divide (the air, the waves).[2][5]

Word family

  • dispulsus

References

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

“Dispello.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/dispello. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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