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obverto

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word obverto

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*wert-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin verto
Latin deverto
Latin everto
Latin eversio
Latin revertor
Latin obverto
Latin subverto
Latin averto
Latin aversor
Latin perverto
Latin perversus
Latin inverto

Forms

obvertō (present infinitive obvertere, perfect active obvertī, supine obversum); third conjugation[1] Marius Victorinus records the spelling ovvertō.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- + vertō (“to turn”).[3][1][2] vertō goes back to Proto-Italic *wertō and Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL dates it from Plautus, who has it twice.[2][4] Lewis & Short quote him of turning one's horns towards someone.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is to turn something so that it faces a certain way: Lucretius has a mirror turned in any direction, and the Bellum Africum soldiers who face about to resist the enemy.[3] Cicero's Aratea uses it of sailors turning a ship out to sea.[3] It is also to turn weapons or troops against someone, as in Livy, and to turn oneself or one's mind to something, as Ovid of a cruel mind.[3] Lewis & Short note that neither Cicero's speeches and letters nor Caesar use it.[5] Ancient glosses explain it as turning to another side.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of turning the horns towards someone.[5][2][4]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of a mirror.[3][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of turning weapons against the enemy.[3][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of turning one's mind.[3][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To turn something so as to face a certain way; in the passive, to turn oneself, face about; of sailors, to turn out to sea.[3][5][1]
  2. To turn weapons or troops against someone; in the passive, to oppose oneself to.[3][5][1]
  3. To turn oneself or one's mind to something.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Obverto.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/obverto. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·