Etymograph

English

repulse

Repulse comes from Latin repulsus ‘having been rejected, repulsed, repelled’, from repellō ‘to drive, push or thrust back or away’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *wre-.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wre-‘back, backwards’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnō‘to approach’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellō‘push, drive’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErepellō‘to drive, push or thrust back or away’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErepulsus‘having been rejected, repulsed, repelled’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1850repulse

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wre-‘back, backwards’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnō‘to approach’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellō‘push, drive’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErepellō‘to drive, push or thrust back or away’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErepulsus‘having been rejected, repulsed, repelled’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1850repulse

Earliest quotation: 1850, T. S. Arthur, Happy on a Little: “At the end of a week, she could bear…”

The story

For spelling, as in pulse, the -e (on -lse) is so the end is pronounced /ls/, rather than /lz/ as in pulls, and does not change the vowel (‘u’).

Linked words

through Proto-Italic *wre- ‘back, backwards’

require, rescue, rely, reverse, reminiscent, remark, reciprocal, revoke, reciprocate, refrigerate, regurgitate, 16 more

through Latin pellō ‘push, drive’

appeal, appellate, compel, expel, compulsory, propel, dispel, propulsion, impulse, expulsion, pelt, compulsive, repel, impel, rappel, 14 more

through Latin repellō ‘to drive, push or thrust back or away’

repeal, repellent

Another origin of repulse

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wre-‘back’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wre-‘back, backwards’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnō‘to approach’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellō‘push, drive’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErepellō‘to drive, push or thrust back or away’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErepulsa
  7. Englishtodayrepulse

Today it means

verb To repel or drive back.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *wre- / repulse

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