English
revoke
Revoke comes from Latin revocare, and goes back to Proto-Italic *wre- ‘again’.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wre-‘again’reconstructedearlier origin unknown
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErevocare
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600révoquer
- Englishearliest quotation 1590revoke
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wre-‘again’reconstructedearlier origin unknown
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErevocare
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600révoquer
- Englishearliest quotation 1590revoke
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto II: “Yet she with pitthy words and counsell sad, Still…”
Linked words
through Proto-Italic *wre- ‘again’
require, rescue, rely, reverse, reminiscent, remark, reciprocal, repellent, reciprocate, refrigerate, repulse, rappel, regurgitate, 16 more
Today it means
verb To cancel or invalidate by withdrawing or reversing.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *wre- / revoke