Etymologically
Log in

revertor

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word revertor

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 revertor
Latin averto
Latin everto

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈwɛr.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈvɛr.tor][1]

Forms

revertor (present infinitive revertī, perfect active reversus sum); third conjugation, deponent[1] It is usually deponent in the present system and active in the perfect (revertī); the deponent perfect reversus sum is mostly post-Augustan, and an active present revertō is also found.[2] An older spelling is revortor.[2]

Etymology

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

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Plautus: revertāmur intrō, soror, “let us go back inside, sister”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Revertī is “to turn back, return, come back” home or to where one started, and of things “to move back” (Lucretius).[2][1] It is “to return to a subject” after a digression (Plautus: revertar ad illam puellam expositīciam, “I will go back to that foundling girl”), “to have recourse to” someone or something, and “to revert” to a former practice.[2] Of seasons, fevers and events it is “to come round again” (Cicero: nec praeteritum tempus umquam revertitur, “time past never returns”), and it also means “to relate back” to a source.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “turn back, return, turn about, revert”.[3] English revert (c. 1300) comes from it through Old French.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: revertāmur intrō, soror;[2][5] revertar ad illam puellam.[2][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of things moving back.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: nec praeteritum tempus umquam revertitur.[2][5]
  • c. 1300 – English revert, through Old French.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To turn back, return, come back.[2][1][3]
  2. To move back (of things).[2]
  3. To return (to a subject).[2]
  4. To have recourse (to); to revert (to a former practice).[2][3]
  5. To come round again, recur.[2]
  6. To relate back (to a source).[2]

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 p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Revertor.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/revertor. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·