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revello

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word revello

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
204–169 BC, Ennius
Ultimate origin
Latin (vellō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vello
Latin revello
Latin divello
Latin evello
Latin avello

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈwɛl.loː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈvɛl.lo][1]

Forms

revellō (present infinitive revellere, perfect active revellī, supine revolsum); third conjugation[1] The perfect is revellī, and Seneca has revulsī.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + vellō (“to pluck, tear”).[2][4] De Vaan traces ⟨vellō⟩ to Proto-Italic *weln-e/o- and a nasal present of Proto-Indo-European *uelh3- (“to strike”), cognate with Hittite u̯alh- (“to hit, strike”) and Ancient Greek ἁλίσκομαι (halískomai, “to be caught”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Ennius,[4] whose Annals have a head torn from the neck.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means “to tear loose, wrench off”, as Varro's man trying in vain to tear off his fetters, and to tear up something rooted or embedded, as tombs torn up in the Rhetorica ad Herennium and an iron point pulled from the bone in Ovid.[2][3] Cicero uses it of pulling weapons from a body.[3] Of persons it is “to tear away” from a place, as in Virgil's “those I could hardly tear from the city of Sidon”, and Seneca of tearing ourselves from folly.[2][1]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of a head torn off.[2][4][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of fetters.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of people torn from their city.[2][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of tearing oneself from folly.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To tear loose, wrench off, tear down.[2][3][1]
  2. To tear up, pull out.[2][3][1]
  3. To tear away a person from a place or way of life.[2]
  4. To disturb, violate.[1]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Revello.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/revello. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·