Where does “electroconvulsive” come from?
I need to work through this chain carefully, but I notice there are significant problems with it that make it impossible to write an accurate etymology.
The chain provided appears corrupted or incorrectly assembled:
- It jumps from "convulsive" to Ancient Greek "ἤλεκτρον" (elektron, amber), which is unrelated
- "Latin -ivus" is a suffix, not a source word
- The chain lists "Latin con-" twice
- It ends with "Latin com" (incomplete)
- The chain doesn't actually show how "elektron" (amber/electric) connects to "convulsive"
For "electroconvulsive" to be etymologized accurately, I would need:
1. A chain showing "electro-" (from Greek ἤλεκτρον for amber/electricity)
2. A separate chain showing "-convulsive"
electroconvulsive (English): Causing seizures or convulsions by means of...
Definitions
- Causing seizures or convulsions by means of...
Ancestry of “electroconvulsive”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | convulsive | Marked by or having the nature of convulsions;... |
| 2 | French | convulsif | convulsive |
| 3 | French | convulsion | convulsion |
| 4 | Latin | convulsiō | — |
| 5 | Latin | convulsus | shattered, battered, convulsed; overthrown |
| 6 | Latin | convellere | third-person plural perfect active indicative of... |
| 7 | Latin | convello | I shatter, batter, convulse; I overthrow |
| 8 | Latin | vello | I pluck out; I depilate; I pull or tear down; I... |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | welnō | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | welh₃- | to hit, to strike |