Repel

google

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late Middle English: from Latin repellere, from re- ‘back’ + pellere ‘to drive’.

wiktionary

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From Middle English repellen, a borrowing from Old French*repeller, from Latin repellere(“to drive back”), from re-(“back”) + pellere(“to drive”). Doublet of repeal.

etymonline

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repel (v.)

early 15c., "to drive away, remove, quench" (a sense now obsolete), from Old French repeller and directly from Latin repellere "to drive back," from re- "back" (see re-) + pellere "to drive, strike" (from PIE root *pel- (5) "to thrust, strike, drive").

The sense of "encounter (an invader, etc.) with effectual resistance, resist, oppose" is from mid-15c. The meaning "to affect (a person) with distaste or aversion" is by 1817. Related: Repelled; repelling.