English
disperse
Disperse comes from Latin dispersus ‘scattered (about), dispersed’, and goes back to spargō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspargō‘to scatter’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdispergō‘to scatter abroad, disperse’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdispersus‘scattered (about), dispersed’past participle of dispergō
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600disperser
- Englishearliest quotation 1611disperse
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspargō‘to scatter’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdispergō‘to scatter abroad, disperse’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdispersus‘scattered (about), dispersed’past participle of dispergō
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600disperser
- Englishearliest quotation 1611disperse
Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “The lippes of the wiſe diſperſe knowledge: but the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *spregʰ-
Today it means
verb To scatter in different directions.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin spargō / disperse