Etymograph

English

subvert

Subvert comes from Latin subvertō ‘to overthrow’, from vertō ‘to turn, turn oneself, direct one's way, to…’, 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 CEvertō‘to turn, turn oneself, direct one's way, to turn about, turn around, revolve’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsubvertō‘to overthrow’literally ‘to underturn, turn from beneath’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400subvertir
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500subverten
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1591subvert

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 CEvertō‘to turn, turn oneself, direct one's way, to turn about, turn around, revolve’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsubvertō‘to overthrow’literally ‘to underturn, turn from beneath’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400subvertir
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500subverten
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1591subvert

Earliest quotation: 1591, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixt: “He […] razeth your cities, and subverts your towns.”

Linked words

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

word, worth, weird, ridiculous, universe, ridicule, derision, wurst, deride, invert, derisive, extraversion, 56 more

through Proto-Italic *wertō ‘to turn’

adverse, diversion, inverse, transverse, inversion, aversion, perverse, averse, perversion, reversion, 39 more

through Latin vertō ‘to turn, turn oneself, direct one's way, to…’

university, version, conversation, divorce, diversity, diverse, verse, versus, vertical, advertisement, versatile, vortex, convertible, adversity, diversification, advert, divert, revert, pervert, vertigo, vertex, vertebrate, avert, introvert, verso, vertebra, perversity, evert, vertiginous, 48 more

Today it means

verb To overturn from the foundation; to overthrow; to ruin utterly.

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

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

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