From Latin 'devorare' (to swallow down) — the violent, total form of eating. Same root behind 'voracious' and every '-vore.'
To eat food or prey hungrily or quickly; to consume destructively; to read or absorb eagerly.
From Old French 'devorer,' from Latin 'dēvorāre' (to swallow down, to consume), from 'dē-' (down, completely) + 'vorāre' (to swallow, to devour), from PIE *gwerh₃- (to swallow, to devour). The same root produced Latin 'vorāx' (voracious), 'carnivore' (flesh-devourer), 'herbivore' (plant-devourer), and 'omnivore' (all-devourer). The word has always carried a sense of excess and destruction — this is not polite eating but violent, total consumption. Key roots: dē- (Latin: "down
The English word 'gorge' (to eat greedily, also a deep ravine) may be a distant relative of 'devour' — both possibly trace to PIE roots related to swallowing. A gorge in the landscape is a 'throat' in the earth, and to gorge oneself is to fill one's throat. The Greek word 'bora' (food) and 'bibrōskein' (to eat) come