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disturbo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word disturbo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (turba)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin turbo
Latin exturbo
Latin conturbo
Latin disturbo
Latin perturbo
Latin perturbatus
Latin perturbatio
Latin deturbo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [dɪsˈtʊr.boː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [disˈtur.bo][1]

Forms

disturbō (present infinitive disturbāre, perfect active disturbāvī, supine disturbātum); first conjugation[1] Lucretius has the contracted perfect disturbat for disturbāvit.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + turbō (“to disturb”),[2][1][3] and turbō is made from turba (“commotion, crowd”).[4] De Vaan lists the compound among the derivatives of turba attested from Plautus on, and calls the further origin of the noun very uncertain.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL dates it from Plautus.[3][4] Terence has it of breaking up a wedding.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to drive apart or throw into disorder, and of buildings to demolish, as in a municipal law forbidding anyone to unroof or pull down a building in the town.[2][5] Lucretius uses it of the long ages that destroy things, and Seneca of writers who deliberately jumble the order of words.[2] It is also to break up an activity or state, as Terence's plan to upset a marriage and Cicero's assembly broken up with swords.[2][5] Church Latin glosses it “drive apart, drive into confusion, disturb, upset”.[6] It survives in Old French destorber,[3] the source, together with the Latin, of English disturb (late 13th century).[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[3][4][8]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of breaking up a wedding.[2][8]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of time destroying things.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of an assembly broken up.[5][8]
  • late 13th century – English disturb.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To throw into disorder, disturb; to demolish.[2][5][1]
  2. To disarrange the order of words.[2]
  3. To break up, upset an activity or state.[2][5]

Word family

  • disturbatiō

References

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

“Disturbo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/disturbo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·