English
divorce
Divorce comes from Old French divorce, from Latin dīvortium ‘separation’, from dīvertō ‘to turn aside’, ultimately from PIE *wert- ‘to turn’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-1‘to turn’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertō1‘to turn’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertō2as vertere‘to turn’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīvertō2‘to turn aside’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīvortium2‘separation’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400divorce2
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1599divorce2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin verto
- 2 Wiktionary, English divorce
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V: “To make divorce of their incorporate league”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-Wiktionary, Latin verto‘to turn’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertōWiktionary, Latin verto‘to turn’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertōWiktionary, English divorceas vertere‘to turn’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīvertōWiktionary, English divorce‘to turn aside’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīvortiumWiktionary, English divorce‘separation’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400divorceWiktionary, English divorce
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1599divorceWiktionary, English divorce. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V: “To make divorce of their incorporate league”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *wert- ‘to turn, to rotate, spin’
word, worth, weird, universe, ridiculous, ridicule, derision, invert, deride, wurst, derisive, extraversion, 55 more
through Proto-Italic *wertō ‘to turn’
adverse, diverse, inverse, transverse, inversion, aversion, perverse, diversion, averse, divert, vertebrate, subvert, introvert, perversion, vertebra, reversion, evert, 38 more
through Latin vertō ‘to turn’
university, version, conversation, versus, verse, vertical, diversity, advertisement, versatile, convertible, advert, adversity, revert, pervert, vertex, vertigo, avert, vortex, vert, diversification, verso, perversity, 54 more
Today it means
noun The legal dissolution of a marriage.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “divorce”; 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- / divorce