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propello

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word propello

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (pellō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin pello
Latin appello
French appeler
French appel
French rappeler
Latin appellatio
Latin pulsus
French pouls
Latin perpello
Latin expello
Latin impello
Latin impulsus
Latin depello
Latin repello
Latin propello
Latin compello

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [proːˈpɛl.loː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [proˈpɛl.lo][1]

Forms

prōpellō (present infinitive prōpellere, perfect active prōpulī, supine prōpulsum); third conjugation[1] Lucretius scans the first syllable short.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + pellō (“to push, drive”).[2][4] De Vaan traces ⟨pellō⟩ to Proto-Italic *pelnā- and Proto-Indo-European *pl-n(e)-h₂- (“to approach”), cognate with Umbrian ampentu (“to bring near, touch”) and Ancient Greek πίλναμαι (pílnamai, “to approach”); the sense would have shifted from bringing something near to pushing it.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan lists it among the compounds of ⟨pellō⟩;[5] the OLD's earliest example is Plautus' Rudens, where someone pushed the old priestess away and shoved her forward in a shameful way.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means “to push forward, propel”, also of natural forces, and “to drive onwards”, as of herds driven to water in Varro.[2] It is also to push over, as Ovid's woods crashing down, and to push or drive away: Caesar has hurdles pushed aside and enemies driven off with slings and arrows, and Nepos a people expelling the leaders of the other faction.[2] Figuratively it is to drive or impel someone to an action, as Cicero's brotherly love carrying a man too far, and in Fronto to put off.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “drive out or away, propel”.[6] English propel (mid-15th century) first meant “to drive away, expel”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of pushing someone forward.[2][8]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of warding off the unjust.[2][8]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of driving enemies away.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a man driven on by love.[2][8]
  • mid-15th century – English propel.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To push or thrust forward, propel; to drive onwards.[2][3][1][6]
  2. To push over, overthrow; to push out of place.[2][1]
  3. To push away, drive off, repel; to banish; to ward off.[2][1]
  4. To put off, postpone.[2]
  5. To drive or impel to an action.[2][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 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

“Propello.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/propello. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·