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Origin and history of commotion

commotion(n.)

late 14c., "violent movement or agitation, emotional disturbance," from Old French commocion "violent motion, agitation" (12c., Modern French commotion) and directly from Latin commotionem (nominative commotio) "violent motion, agitation," noun of action from past participle stem of commovere "to move, disturb," from com "with, together," perhaps here "thoroughly" (see com-) + movere "to move" (from PIE root *meue- "to push away").

From mid-15c. as "public unrest or disturbance." Verbs commote "to disturb, stir up" (1852), commove (late 14c.) are marked "rare" in Century Dictionary.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to commotion

com-

word-forming element usually meaning "with, together," from Latin com, archaic form of classical Latin cum "together, together with, in combination," from PIE *kom- "beside, near, by, with" (compare Old English ge-, German ge-). The prefix in Latin sometimes was used as an intensive.

Before vowels and aspirates, it is reduced to co-; before -g-, it is assimilated to cog- or con-; before -l-, assimilated to col-; before -r-, assimilated to cor-; before -c-, -d-, -j-, -n-, -q-, -s-, -t-, and -v-, it is assimilated to con-, which was so frequent that it often was used as the normal form.

*meue-

*meuə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to push away."

It might form all or part of: commotion; emotion; mob; mobile; moment; momentary; momentous; momentum; motif; motility; motion; motive; moto-; motor; move; movement; mutiny; premotion; promote; remote; remove.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit kama-muta "moved by love" and probably mivati "pushes, moves;" Greek ameusasthai "to surpass," amyno "push away;" Latin movere "move, set in motion;" Lithuanian mauti "push on."

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    disturbance
    late 13c., "mental distress, emotional disorder of the mind, grief," from Old French destorbance (12c., Old North French distorbance), from destourber, from Latin disturbare "throw into disorder," from dis- "completely" (see dis-) + turbare "to disorder, disturb," from turba "tur
    disruption
    "a rending asunder, a bursting apart, forcible separation into parts," early 15c., originally medical, "laceration of tissue," general sense from 1640s, from Medieval Latin disruptionem (nominative disruptio) "a breaking asunder," noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin
    flutter
    Old English floterian "to flutter (of birds), to fly before, flicker, float to and fro, be tossed by waves," frequentative of flotian "to float" (see float (v.)). Meaning "throw (someone) into confusion" is from 1660s. Related: Fluttered; fluttering. As a noun, "quick, irregular
    hurly-burly
    also hurlyburly, "commotion, tumult," 1530s, apparently an alteration of phrase hurling and burling, reduplication of 14c.... hurling "commotion, tumult," verbal noun of hurl (v.)....has hurly "tumult, uproar," and Hurling time (early 15c.) was the name applied by chroniclers to the period of tumult and commotion...
    tempest
    "violent storm," late 13c., from Old French tempeste "storm; commotion, battle; epidemic, plague" (11c.), from Vulgar Latin...*tempesta, from Latin tempestas "a storm, commotion; weather, season; occasion, time," related to tempus "time, season"...Figurative sense of "violent commotion" in English is recorded from early 14c....
    production
    Colloquial sense of "fuss, commotion" is from 1941, transferred from the meaning "theatrical performance" (1894)....
    stour
    imitators in various senses; also surviving as a Scottish and Northern English word meaning "a (driving) storm" or "uproar, commotion...
    motion
    late 14c., mocioun, "process of moving; change of place, continuous variation of position;" also "suggestion, proposal or proposition formally made," from Old French mocion "movement, motion; change, alteration" (13c., Modern French motion) and directly from Latin motionem (nomin
    stir
    Middle English stiren, from Old English styrian, stirian "to move, be or become active or busy, pass into motion," also transitive, "to agitate with a rotating motion (a liquid or mixture by hand or with an instrument), move, change the location of; rouse, agitate, incite, urge;"
    movement
    late 14c., mevement, "change of position; passage from place to place," from Old French movement "movement, exercise; start, instigation" (Modern French mouvement), from Medieval Latin movimentum, from Latin movere "to move, set in motion" (from PIE root *meue- "to push away"). I

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