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expulsio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word expulsio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC Cicero More words from the 1st century BC
Ultimate origin
Latin expellō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin pellō
Latin expellō
English expel
Latin expulsiō
English expulsion
From the same root
English repulsive ← pellō
Latin appellō ← pellō
Latin compellō ← pellō
Latin dēpellō ← pellō
Latin dispellō ← pellō
Latin impellō ← pellō
Latin interpellō ← pellō
Latin perpellō ← pellō
Latin prōpellō ← pellō
Latin pulsō ← pellō
Latin pulsus ← pellō
Latin pultō ← pellō
Latin repellō ← pellō

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛkˈspʊɫ.si.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ekˈspul.si.o][1]

Forms

expulsiō f (genitive expulsiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin expellō (“to drive out”) + -tiō.[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero (81–43 BC),[3][4] who lists condemnations, expulsions and killings together (damnationes, expulsiones, neces) and speaks of the driving out of neighbours (expulsiones vicinorum).[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is the driving out of people from land or into exile.[2] After Cicero it appears in the summaries of Livy and in Lactantius.[3]

In Medieval Latin it also meant the driving of cattle back from pasture and a transfer,[6] and in scholastic writers the repelling of one thing by another.[7] English borrowed it around 1400 as expulsion, first in medicine, of matter driven out of the body.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the driving out of people.[2][4]
  • c. 1400 – English borrows it, from French or Latin, as expulsion.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A driving out, expulsion (from land, into exile).[2][5]
  2. (Medieval Latin) The driving of cattle back from pasture.[6]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A repelling, as opposed to attraction.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Expulsio.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/expulsio. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

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