English
controversy
Controversy comes from Latin contrōversia ‘debate, contention, controversy’, and goes back to contrōversus ‘turned in an opposite direction’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontrōversus‘turned in an opposite direction’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontrōversia‘debate, contention, controversy’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400controversie
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1605controversy
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontrōversus‘turned in an opposite direction’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontrōversia‘debate, contention, controversy’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400controversie
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1605controversy
Earliest quotation: 1605, Francis Bacon, The First Booke: “[A]nd it is without all controuerſie, that learning doth…”
A compound of contrā ‘against’ + versus ‘turned, changed, having been turned’
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm ‘with, along, at’
Proto-Italic *kom ‘with’
Proto-Italic *kom- ‘together’
Proto-Italic *komteros ‘the other of the two who meet, opposite’
Proto-Italic *komterād
Latin contrā ‘against’
Proto-Indo-European *wert- ‘to turn, to rotate, spin’
Proto-Indo-European *wr̥ttós
Proto-Italic *worssos
Latin vorsus ‘Old Latin form of versus’
Latin versus ‘turned, changed, having been turned’
Every English word from Latin contrōversus
Today it means
noun A debate or discussion of opposing opinions; (generally) strife.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin contrōversus / controversy