English
controvert
Controvert comes from Medieval Latin contrōvertere, from Latin vertō ‘to turn’, and ultimately from 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 CEvertōas vertere‘to turn’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500contrōvertere
- Englishearliest quotation 1791controvert
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
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 CEvertōas vertere‘to turn’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500contrōvertere
- Englishearliest quotation 1791controvert
Earliest quotation: 1791, Mary Wollstonecraft, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson: “[T]hat women from their education and the present state…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *wert- ‘to turn, to rotate, spin’
word, worth, weird, ridiculous, universe, ridicule, derision, invert, deride, wurst, derisive, extraversion, 55 more
through Proto-Italic *wertō ‘to turn’
adverse, inverse, diversion, perverse, transverse, inversion, aversion, averse, perversion, reversion, 38 more
through Latin vertō ‘to turn’
university, version, divorce, conversation, diversity, versus, diverse, verse, vertical, advertisement, versatile, vortex, adversity, advert, convertible, diversification, divert, revert, pervert, vertex, vertigo, avert, vertebrate, subvert, verso, vertebra, evert, perversity, introvert, vertiginous, 47 more
Today it means
verb To dispute, to argue about (something).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *wert- / controvert