impetus
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 9:04 am
I see this in the OED: mid 17th century: from Latin, 'assault, force', from impetere 'assail', from in- 'toward' + petere 'seek'. I am unable to find "petere" in my Latin dictionary (which, I can probably safely assume is not outdated). Also, it did not provide any other words which use "petere" as a root, English or otherwise. Any ideas out there?