Etymograph

English

vapulation

Vapulation comes from Latin vāpulō ‘to be flogged’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weh₂p-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weh₂p-1reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvāpulō2as vāpulāre‘to be flogged’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1698vapulation2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin vapulo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English vapulation
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1698, Ned Ward, The London Spy: “He all the time begs their Mercy, like an…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weh₂p-Wiktionary, Latin vapuloreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvāpulōWiktionary, English vapulationas vāpulāre‘to be flogged’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1698vapulationWiktionary, English vapulation. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1698, Ned Ward, The London Spy: “He all the time begs their Mercy, like an…”

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂p-

Today it means

noun The act of beating or whipping.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “vapulation”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin vapulo. 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 *weh₂p- / vapulation

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