Origin and history of consult

"ask advice of, seek the opinion of as a guide to one's own judgment," 1520s, from French consulter (16c.), from Latin consultare "consult, take the advice of," frequentative of consulere "take counsel, meet and consider." It probably is, etymologically, "to call together," as in consulere senatum "to gather the senate" (to ask for advice), and from Proto-Italic *kom-sel-e-. This would be a compound of *kom- "with, together" (see con-) + *sel-e- "take, gather together," from PIE root *s(e)lh- "to take" (said to be also the source of Middle Welsh dyrllid "to earn," Gothic saljan "to sacrifice," Old Norse selja "to sell, hand over").

Since consulere does not look like a derivative of cōnsul (we would rather expect consulāre), it appears that the verb was original and meant 'to get together, deliberate'. [de Vaan]

Related: Consulted; consulting.