Where does “revolve” come from?
Revolve comes from Middle English revolven, from Old French revolver, from Latin revolvere, from Latin revolvo meaning to roll back, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots wel-, wert-, and wer- relating to turning and rolling.
revolve (English): The rotation of part of the scenery within a...
Definitions
- The rotation of part of the scenery within a...
Ancestry of “revolve”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | revolven | to change direction |
| 2 | Old French | revolver | to reflect upon |
| 3 | Latin | revolvere | third-person plural perfect active indicative of... |
| 4 | Latin | revolvo | I roll back; unroll, unwind; revolve, return; I... |
| 5 | Latin | re- | back, backwards; again; prefix added to various... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | wret- | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | wert- | to turn, to rotate |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | wer- | to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel |