Etymograph

English

dispel

Dispel comes from Latin dispello ‘to disperse’, from pellō ‘push, drive’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *pelnō ‘to approach’.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnō‘to approach’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellō‘push, drive’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdispelloas dispellere‘to disperse’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dispelen
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1906dispel

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnō‘to approach’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellō‘push, drive’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdispelloas dispellere‘to disperse’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dispelen
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1906dispel

Earliest quotation: 1906, Stanley John Weyman, New York: “It was April 22, 1831, and a young man…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- ‘to approach’

polish, appel, 13 more

through Proto-Italic *pelnō ‘to approach’

impulse, repellent, repulse, 10 more

through Latin pellō ‘push, drive’

appeal, pulse, compulsory, repeal, propulsion, expulsion, compulsive, appellate, compel, expel, propel, repel, pelt, impel, rappel, 16 more

Today it means

verb To drive away or cause to vanish by scattering.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *pelnō / dispel

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