Etymograph

English

reluct

Reluct comes from Latin reluctor ‘to resist’, from lū̆ctor ‘to struggle, strive, contend’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewg- ‘to bend’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewg-‘to bend’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElū̆ctor‘to struggle, strive, contend’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEreluctor‘to resist’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1639reluct

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewg-‘to bend’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElū̆ctor‘to struggle, strive, contend’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEreluctor‘to resist’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1639reluct

Earliest quotation: 1639, The Life of Dr. John Donne:: “He was by nature highly passionate, but more apt…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *lewg- ‘to bend’

lock, leek, loke, 17 more

Today it means

verb To be averse to.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *lewg- / reluct

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