Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Latin word exturbo

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 deturbo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛkˈstʊr.boː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ekˈstur.bo][1]

Forms

exturbō (present infinitive exturbāre, perfect active exturbāvī, supine exturbātum); first conjugation[1] The Vulgate has the spelling esturbo.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + turbō (“to disturb, upset”),[3][1][2] and turbō is made from turba (“commotion, crowd”).[4] De Vaan finds the connection of turba with Sanskrit त्वरते (tvarate, “hurries”) very uncertain in form, and mentions as another possibility Ancient Greek στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”), though no other cognates are known.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first examples in the OLD are in Plautus, where a man is driven out of his house.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means to drive or thrust out, expel, and of a wife to divorce her, as Cicero's daughter driven out of the house.[3][5] Plautus also uses it of forcing out eyes and teeth, of driving grief out of the mind, and of throwing everything into disorder.[3] Lewis & Short give it as classical, with expellō and ēiciō as synonyms.[5] Church Latin glosses it “drive away”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of driving a man from his house.[3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a divorced wife.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To drive out, expel, eject; to divorce a wife.[3][5][1]
  2. To force a thing out of its place.[3]
  3. To banish something from the mind.[3]
  4. To throw into disorder.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ 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
  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 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Exturbo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/exturbo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·