English
avert
Avert comes from Old French avertir ‘turn, direct, avert’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wert-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-‘to turn, to rotate, spin’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertō‘to turn’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertō‘to turn’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEāvertere
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400avertir‘turn, direct, avert’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500averten
- Englishearliest quotation 1625avert
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-‘to turn, to rotate, spin’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertō‘to turn’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertō‘to turn’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEāvertere
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400avertir‘turn, direct, avert’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500averten
- Englishearliest quotation 1625avert
Earliest quotation: 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Unity in Religion: “When atheists and profane persons do hear of so…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *wert- ‘to turn, to rotate, spin’
word, worth, weird, ridiculous, universe, ridicule, derision, wurst, deride, invert, derisive, extraversion, 56 more
through Proto-Italic *wertō ‘to turn’
adverse, diversion, inverse, transverse, inversion, perverse, aversion, perversion, averse, reversion, 39 more
through Latin vertō ‘to turn’
university, version, conversation, divorce, diversity, versus, diverse, verse, vertical, versatile, vortex, convertible, adversity, diversification, advert, divert, revert, pervert, vertigo, vertex, vertebrate, introvert, subvert, verso, vertebra, perversity, evert, vertiginous, 48 more
through Old French avertir ‘turn, direct, avert’
Today it means
verb To turn aside or away.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *wert- / avert