English → Latin
“convulse” in Latin
convellōto shatter, batter, convulse; to overthrowquatiōto shake, agitate, batter, shatter, demolish, overthrow, rend; to wield, brandish; to move, touch, excite, affectquassōto shake repeatedly, to quake; to wave or flourish; to weakenconcutiōto shake violently (or together); to agitate; to terrify or alarmconquassōto shake violently; to shatter; to unsettle or disturbpercutiōto strike, beat; to make an impression on the mind, touch, please, delight, astonish, shock; to killpercellōto beat down; to overturn or upset; to strike or smiterēspūblicaa republic, commonwealth; the state, nation; politics, civil affairsīnstituōto set up, establish, found, institute or arrange; to train, teach, instruct, educate (usually by a course of training);
The English word convulse itself goes back to Latin vellō, through convulsus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
convulse
PROPR.
Cause convulsions; spasmos facere (after spasmos fieri prohibet, Plin., 30, 12, 36), and probably convellere, as convulsus is so used. IMPROP.
Shake violently, convellere (e.g., rempublicam, instituta, etc.). (the words are found in this connection and order), labefactare et convellere: quatere: quassare: concutere: conquassare (to shake): percutere: percellere (to make a violent impression on anything: percutere, of a sudden, unexpected convulsion: percellere, of one, the effects of which are of long duration). To convulse the state, rempublicam convellere, quassare, concutere, labefactare, dilacerare: rempublicam atrociter agitare (Sall.): the empire, regnum concutere, labefactare; imperium percutere: to convulse the earth (Thomson), terram ingenti motu concutere. To convulse anybody with laughter, magnum, maximum, mirum risum alicui movere, concitare. To be convulsed with laughter, risu corruere (Cic.), emori (Terentianus), rumpi (Afranius, ap. Nonn.); cachinnum tollere; miros risus edere.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for convulse?
- The usual Latin words for “convulse” are convellō, quatiō, quassō; also concutiō, conquassō, percutiō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.