Etymograph

English

divert

Divert comes from Latin vertō ‘to turn’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wert-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-1‘to turn, to rotate, spin’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertō1‘to turn’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertō2as vertere‘to turn’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500diverten2
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1641divert2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin verto
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English divert
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1641, [Diary entry for 28 August 1641]: “I diverted to see one of the prince's palaces.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-Wiktionary, Latin verto‘to turn, to rotate, spin’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertōWiktionary, Latin verto‘to turn’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertōWiktionary, English divertas vertere‘to turn’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500divertenWiktionary, English divert
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1641divertWiktionary, English divert. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1641, [Diary entry for 28 August 1641]: “I diverted to see one of the prince's palaces.”

Linked words

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

word, worth, weird, ridiculous, universe, ridicule, derision, wurst, deride, invert, derisive, extraversion, 60 more

through Proto-Italic *wertō ‘to turn’

adverse, inverse, transverse, inversion, aversion, perverse, averse, perversion, reversion, 43 more

through Latin vertō ‘to turn’

university, version, conversation, divorce, versus, verse, vertical, advertisement, versatile, vortex, convertible, adversity, advert, revert, pervert, vertigo, vertex, vertebrate, introvert, avert, subvert, verso, vertebra, perversity, evert, 51 more

Today it means

verb To turn aside from a course.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “divert”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin verto. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

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

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