Etymograph

English

vertiginous

Vertiginous comes from Latin vertīginōsus ‘Suffering from vertigo or giddiness’, 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 CEvertīgō‘gyration, giddiness, dizziness’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertīginōsus‘Suffering from vertigo or giddiness’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600vertigineux
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2023vertiginous

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 CEvertīgō‘gyration, giddiness, dizziness’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertīginōsus‘Suffering from vertigo or giddiness’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600vertigineux
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2023vertiginous

Earliest quotation: 2023, Kevin Roose, GPT-4 Is Exciting and Scary: “GPT-4 didn’t give me an existential crisis. But it…”

Linked words

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

word, worth, weird, universe, ridiculous, ridicule, derision, deride, wurst, invert, derisive, extraversion, 58 more

through Proto-Italic *wertō ‘to turn’

adverse, diversion, transverse, inverse, aversion, perverse, inversion, averse, perversion, reversion, 41 more

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

university, version, conversation, divorce, diversity, diverse, versus, verse, advertisement, vortex, versatile, adversity, convertible, advert, divert, diversification, revert, pervert, vertex, avert, vertebrate, subvert, verso, introvert, vertebra, evert, perversity, 50 more

Today it means

adj Having an aspect of great depth, drawing the eye to look downwards.

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

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

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