Origin and history of revert

early 14c., reversen, (transitive), "change, alter" (a sense now obsolete); late 14c., "turn (someone or something) in an opposite direction, turn the other way, turn inside out," also in a general sense, "alter to the opposite;" from Old French reverser "reverse, turn around; roll, turn up" (12c.), from Late Latin reversare "turn about, turn back," frequentative of Latin revertere "turn back, turn about; come back, return" (see revert).

From c. 1400 as "turn (something) upside down;" from early 15c. as "go backward" (intransitive). Of judicial sentences, "set aside, make void," mid-15c. In mechanics, "cause to revolve or act in a contrary direction," by 1860; the sense of "put a motor vehicle in reverse gear" is by 1902. Related: Reversed; reversing.

late 14c., reversioun, a legal word used in reference to the return of an estate to the heirs of a grantor on the expiration of the grant, from Old French reversion and directly from Latin reversionem (nominative reversio) "act of turning back," noun of action from past-participle stem of revertere (see revert). From early 15c. as "a return to a place."

reversion has various senses, chiefly legal or biological .... It suffices to say that they all correspond to the verb revert, & not to the verb reverse, whose noun is reversal. [Fowler]