Etymograph

English

divulse

Divulse comes from Latin dīvulsus ‘torn apart’, from vellō ‘to pull or tear down’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *welh₃- ‘to hit, to strike’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welh₃-1‘to hit, to strike’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wl̥néh₃ti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*welnō1‘to pull, tear’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvellō1‘to pull or tear down’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīvellō2‘to tear apart’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīvulsus2‘torn apart’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2005divulse2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin divello
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English divulse
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2005, Dean T. Smith, Homoeopathy Before and After Surgery: “The divulsing may be done with the Pratt rectal…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welh₃-Wiktionary, Latin divello‘to hit, to strike’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wl̥néh₃tiWiktionary, Latin divelloreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*welnōWiktionary, Latin divello‘to pull, tear’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvellōWiktionary, Latin divello‘to pull or tear down’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīvellōWiktionary, English divulse‘to tear apart’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīvulsusWiktionary, English divulse‘torn apart’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2005divulseWiktionary, English divulse. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2005, Dean T. Smith, Homoeopathy Before and After Surgery: “The divulsing may be done with the Pratt rectal…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *welh₃- ‘to hit, to strike’

vulnerable, invulnerability, 20 more

through Latin vellō ‘to pull or tear down’

pull, convulsion, convulsive, 7 more

Today it means

verb To pull apart forcibly.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “divulse”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin divello. 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 *welh₃- / divulse

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