Today, the term convoluted has evolved to signify something that is difficult to follow, but its origins trace back to James Petiver’s seventeenth-century publication in the Philosophical Transactions journal. Initially, it meant “twisted round” something, with the noun form convolution dating back to the 1540s, referring to a state of being rolled up, often in a botanical context. The word stems from the Latin verb convolvere, which translates to “roll with”, combining the prefix con- (meaning “with”) and the infinitive volvere (meaning “to turn”). The prefix con- can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root kom (also meaning “with”), while volvere is linked to the Proto-Indo-European wel (also meaning “turn”). Data from Google NGrams shows that the usage of convolution peaked in the late 1990s, while the utilization of the verb convolute reached its peak in the early 2010s, marking an intriguing trend.
