Etymologically
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expello

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛkˈspɛl.loː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ekˈspɛl.lo][1]

Forms

expellō (present infinitive expellere, perfect active expulī, supine expulsum); third conjugation[1] Pomponius has a perfect infinitive expulsisse.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ex- (“out”) + pellō (“to push, drive”).[2][3][4] De Vaan traces pellō to Proto-Italic *pelna- and Proto-Indo-European *pl-n-h₂- (“to approach”), with a shift from “bring closer” to “push, drive”; cognate with Ancient Greek πίλναμαι (pílnamai, “to approach”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[5] who has nī illōs hominēs expellō, ego occidī plānissumē, “unless I throw those men out, I'm done for”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Expellere is “to drive or force out, eject” things (Accius: a rock hurled up by the winds), in medicine “to dislocate” a bone, of the sea “to cast ashore”, and of cattle “to drive out to pasture”.[2][6][1] Of persons it is “to drive out, expel”, an enemy “to dislodge” (Cicero: Hannibale ex Ītaliā expulsō), and “to banish” (Cicero: he who expelled the most powerful king).[2][6] Figuratively it is “to banish” a feeling or doubt (Plautus: corde expelle dēsidiam tuō, “drive sloth from your heart”), and “to exclude, reject”.[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “to drive out, expel, thrust forth”.[7] English expel comes from it in the late 14th century.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: nī illōs hominēs expellō.[2][8]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius: ventīs expulsum … saxum.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: Hannibale ex Ītaliā expulsō.[2][8]
  • late 14th century – English expel.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To drive out, force out, eject.[2][6][1][7]
  2. (medicine) To dislocate.[2]
  3. To cast ashore; to drive out (cattle) to graze.[2]
  4. To expel, drive out (a person or enemy); to banish.[2][6][1]
  5. To banish (a feeling); to exclude, reject.[2][1]

Word family

  • expulsim
  • expulsiō
  • expulsor
  • expultrix
  • expulsō
  • expulsus

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 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de