English
vortex
Vortex comes from Latin vertex ‘whirl, whirlpool, eddy, vortex’, from vertō ‘to turn around, turn about’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wert-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-‘to turn, to rotate, spin’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertō‘to turn’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertō‘to turn around, turn about’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertexas vortex‘whirl, whirlpool, eddy, vortex’
- Englishearliest quotation 1705vortex
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-‘to turn, to rotate, spin’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertō‘to turn’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertō‘to turn around, turn about’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertexas vortex‘whirl, whirlpool, eddy, vortex’
- Englishearliest quotation 1705vortex
Earliest quotation: 1705, George Cheyne, London: […] George Strahan […]: “Novv ſhou'd it happen that any of theſe Sun-like…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *wert- ‘to turn, to rotate, spin’
word, weird, worth, universe, ridiculous, ridicule, derision, invert, deride, derisive, wurst, extraversion, 55 more
through Proto-Italic *wertō ‘to turn’
adverse, diversion, inverse, transverse, inversion, aversion, perverse, averse, perversion, vertebrate, reversion, vertebra, evert, vertiginous, 38 more
through Latin vertō ‘to turn around, turn about’
university, version, conversation, diversity, versus, diverse, verse, divorce, advertisement, versatile, convertible, adversity, advert, diversification, divert, revert, pervert, vertigo, avert, subvert, introvert, verso, vert, perversity, 51 more
through Latin vertex ‘whirl, whirlpool, eddy, vortex’
Today it means
noun A whirlwind, whirlpool, or similarly moving matter in the form of a spiral or column.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *wert- / vortex