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Origin and history of compel

compel(v.)

"to drive or urge irresistibly by physical or moral force," mid-14c., from Old French compellir and directly from Latin compellere "to drive together, drive to one place" (of cattle), "to force or compel" (of persons), from com "with, together" (see com-) + pellere "to drive" (from PIE root *pel- (5) "to thrust, strike, drive"). Related: Compelled; compelling.

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to compel

compelling(adj.)

c. 1600, "that compels," present-participle adjective from compel. Meaning "demanding attention" is from 1901. Related: Compellingly.

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.

*pel-(5)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to thrust, strike, drive."

It might form all or part of: anvil; appeal; catapult; compel; dispel; expel; felt (n.) "unwoven fabric matted together by rolling or beating;" filter; filtrate; impel; impulse; interpellation; interpolate; peal; pelt (v.) "to strike (with something);" polish; propel; pulsate; pulsation; pulse (n.1) "a throb, a beat;" push; rappel; repeal; repel; repousse.

It might also be the source ofy: Greek pallein "to wield, brandish, swing," pelemizein "to shake, cause to tremble;" Latin pellere "to push, drive;" Old Church Slavonic plŭstĭ.

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    obligate
    1540s, "to bind, fasten, connect," the literal sense of the Latin word, now obsolete in English; 1660s in the main modern sense of "to put under moral obligation;" a back-formation from obligation, or else from Latin obligatus, past participle of obligare "to bind, bind up, banda
    enforce
    14c., "to drive by physical force; to try, attempt, strive; to fortify, strengthen a place;" late 14c. as "exert force, compel...Meaning "compel obedience to" (a law, etc.) is from 1640s. Related: Enforced; enforcing....
    compulsive
    c. 1600, "exercising compulsion, tending to compel," from French compulsif, from Latin compulsus, past participle of compellere...As a noun, "something that tends to compel," attested from 1630s; psychological sense "person subject to compulsions" is...
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    cogent
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    make
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    squeeze
    c. 1600, "press forcibly" (transitive), perhaps an alteration of quease (Middle English quisen), from Old English cwysan "to squeeze," a word of unknown origin, perhaps imitative (compare German quetschen "to squeeze"). It perhaps also has been altered by influence of many words

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