revert (v.)

c. 1300, "opposite, contrary in position or direction, turned backward," from Old French revers "reverse, cross, opposite" (13c.) and directly from Latin reversus, past participle of revertere "turn back, turn about, come back, return" (see revert). In reference to a gear mechanism enabling a vehicle to go backward without changing the rotation of the engine, by 1875. Reverse angle (shot, etc.) in film-making is from 1934. Reverse discrimination is attested from 1962, American English. Reverse dictionary, one in which the words are arranged alphabetically by last letter to first, is by 1954.

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]