Etymograph

English

inverse

Inverse comes from Latin inversus ‘inverted, upset, turned upside down’, from vertō ‘to turn’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wert-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-‘to turn, to rotate, spin’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertō‘to turn’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertōas vertere‘to turn’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinvertere‘to invert’next step skipped: Latin invertō
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinversus‘inverted, upset, turned upside down’past participle of invertere
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1850inverse

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-‘to turn, to rotate, spin’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertō‘to turn’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertōas vertere‘to turn’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinvertere‘to invert’next step skipped: Latin invertō
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinversus‘inverted, upset, turned upside down’past participle of invertere
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1850inverse

Earliest quotation: 1850, Henry George Bohn, The Hand-book of Games: “If the player... be determined to try his luck…”

The story

Recorded since 1440, from Latin inversus, the past participle of invertere (‘to invert’), itself from in- (‘against, in’) + vertere (‘to turn’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wert- ‘to turn, to rotate, spin’

word, worth, weird, ridiculous, universe, ridicule, derision, deride, derisive, wurst, extraversion, 58 more

through Proto-Italic *wertō ‘to turn’

diversion, aversion, transverse, vertebra, introvert, perversion, reversion, evert, vertiginous, 40 more

through Latin vertō ‘to turn’

university, version, divorce, conversation, diversity, vertical, versus, vortex, diverse, advertisement, versatile, convertible, adverse, advert, divert, revert, pervert, adversity, diversification, vertex, vertigo, avert, vertebrate, subvert, vert, perverse, averse, verso, perversity, 48 more

Today it means

adj Opposite in effect, nature or order.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *wert- / inverse

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