Etymograph

English

coerce

Coerce comes from Latin coërceō ‘to surround, encompass, restrain, control, curb’, from arceō ‘to inclose, confine, keep off’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erk- ‘to protect’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂erk-‘to protect’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂orkéyetireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*arkeō‘to keep out’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEarceō‘to inclose, confine, keep off’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcoërceō‘to surround, encompass, restrain, control, curb’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1984coerce

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂erk-‘to protect’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂orkéyetireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*arkeō‘to keep out’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEarceō‘to inclose, confine, keep off’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcoërceō‘to surround, encompass, restrain, control, curb’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1984coerce

Earliest quotation: 1984, Gayle Rubin, Censored: Anti-Porn Laws And Women's Liberation: “A woman who freely engages in any of these…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂erk- ‘to protect’

ogre, arcane, 4 more

through Latin arceō ‘to inclose, confine, keep off’

ark, arcana, 3 more

Today it means

verb To restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂erk- / coerce

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