English
divert
Divert comes from Latin vertō ‘to turn’, and goes back to 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’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500diverten
- Englishearliest quotation 1641divert
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
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’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500diverten
- Englishearliest quotation 1641divert
Earliest quotation: 1641, [Diary entry for 28 August 1641]: “I diverted to see one of the prince's palaces.”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *wert- ‘to turn, to rotate, spin’
word, worth, weird, ridiculous, universe, ridicule, derision, wurst, deride, invert, derisive, extraversion, 60 more
through Proto-Italic *wertō ‘to turn’
adverse, inverse, transverse, inversion, aversion, perverse, averse, perversion, reversion, 43 more
through Latin vertō ‘to turn’
university, version, conversation, divorce, versus, verse, vertical, advertisement, versatile, vortex, convertible, adversity, advert, revert, pervert, vertigo, vertex, vertebrate, introvert, avert, subvert, verso, vertebra, perversity, evert, vertiginous, 51 more
Today it means
verb To turn aside from a course.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *wert- / divert