English
compulsive
Compulsive comes from Latin compulsus ‘compelled’, and goes back to pellō ‘to drive’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellōas pellere‘to drive’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompellere‘to compel’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompulsus‘compelled’past participle of compellere
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcompulsif
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1729compulsive
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellōas pellere‘to drive’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompellere‘to compel’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompulsus‘compelled’past participle of compellere
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcompulsif
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1729compulsive
Earliest quotation: a. 1729, Samuel Clarke: “Religion is […] inconsistent with all compulsive Motives.”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘to drive, strike, thrust’
film, felt, simple, simply, push, filter, powder, fold, pillow, complain, flaw, pollen, palate, palpable, palladium, palatable, pall, wallow, peloton, polemic, tuple, pollinate, palatal, muffle, apoplexy, peplum, palp, pillion, interpolate, pulver, 62 more
through Proto-Italic *pelnō ‘to approach’
impulse, repellent, repulse, 11 more
through Latin pellō ‘to drive’
appeal, repeal, pulse, appellate, expel, repel, propel, dispel, propulsion, pelt, expulsion, rappel, impel, 17 more
through Latin compellere ‘to compel’
Today it means
adj Uncontrolled or reactive and irresistible.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin pellō / compulsive