English
involution
Involution comes from Latin involvō ‘to roll to or upon something’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *welH-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welH-‘to roll, to undulate’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wolwōreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvolvō‘roll’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinvolvō‘to roll to or upon something’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinvolūtiō
- Englishearliest quotation 1938involution
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welH-‘to roll, to undulate’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wolwōreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvolvō‘roll’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinvolvō‘to roll to or upon something’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinvolūtiō
- Englishearliest quotation 1938involution
Earliest quotation: 1938, Xavier Herbert: “[…]usually his attention was diverted from her feet by…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *welH- ‘to roll, to undulate’
well, walk, wall, valve, vulgar, waltz, helix, divulge, vagrant, wale, gauche, vulgate, iliac, ilium, valvular, valise, 73 more
through Proto-Italic *wolwō
revolve, devolve, devolution, convolutional, 41 more
through Latin volvō ‘roll’
volume, vault, revolution, evolve, evolution, revolt, vulva, voluminous, convoluted, voluble, convolution, 45 more
Today it means
noun Entanglement; a spiralling inwards; intricacy.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *welH- / involution