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prose [prose 词源字典]: prose: [14] Prose is etymologically ‘straightforward discourse’ (as opposed to the more sophisticated discourse of poetry). The term comes via Old French prose from Latin prōsa, which was short for prōsa ōrātiō ‘straightforward discourse’. Prōsus ‘straightforward, direct’ was a contraction of an earlier prōversus, the past participle of prōvertere ‘turn forward’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix prō- ‘forward’ and vertere ‘turn’ (source of English verse, version, etc).
=> verse, version[prose etymology, prose origin, 英语词源]
prosecute: prosecute: [15] If you prosecute someone, etymologically you ‘pursue’ them. The word comes from prōsecūt-, the past participial stem of prōsequī ‘pursue’, a compound verb formed from the prefix prō- ‘forward’ and sequī ‘follow’ (source of English sequal, sequence, etc). The word’s legal application emerged in the late 16th century.
=> pursue, sequal, sequence, suit
proselyte: proselyte: [14] A proselyte is etymologically someone who ‘comes to’ a new religion. The word comes via Latin prosēlytus from Greek proséluthos ‘person who comes to a place’, a derivative of the verb prosérkhesthai ‘come to, approach’.
prosody: prosody: [15] Despite the passing similarity, prosody has no etymological connection with prose. In fact, its closest English relative is ode. It comes via Latin prosōdia from Greek prosōidíā, which originally meant ‘song with an instrumental accompaniment’. This was a compound formed from prós ‘in addition to’ and ōidé ‘song’ (source of English ode [16] and also of parody [16], rhapsody, and probably tragedy).
=> melody, ode, parody, rhapsody
prostitute: prostitute: [16] To prostitute something is etymologically to ‘set it up in front of everyone’. The word comes from the past participle of Latin prōstituere, a compound formed from the prefix prō- ‘before, in public’ and statuere ‘set, place’ (source of English statute). The Latin verb evolved semantically via ‘expose publicly’ and ‘offer for sale’ to ‘make available for sex in return for money’, and the feminine form of its past participle, prōstitūta, foreshadows its English noun descendant prostitute.
=> statue, status, statute
prostrate: prostrate: see strata
protect: protect: [16] The -tect element of protect goes back to the past participle of Latin tegere ‘cover’ (source of English integument [17] and toga [16] and related to thatch). Combination with the prefix prō- ‘in front’ produced prōtegere ‘cover in front, protect’. Another English product of the past participle tectus is detect [15].
=> detect, integument, thatch, toga
protein: protein: [19] The word protein was coined (as French protéine) by the Dutch chemist Mulder in the late 1830s. He based it on late Greek prōteios ‘primary’, a derivative of Greek prótos ‘first’ (see PROTOZOA), the notion being that proteins were substances of ‘primary’ importance to the proper functioning of the body.
protest: protest: [14] The noun protest comes from early modern French protest, a derivative of the verb protester, which goes back to Latin prōtestārī ‘make a public declaration’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix prō- ‘out, in public’ and testārī ‘declare, bear witness’ (source of or related to English attest, contest, detest, testament, testify, etc).

The notion of ‘making an objection’ is a comparatively late development in the word’s semantic history. Protestant [16], which comes from the Latin present participle, originated in 1529 as a term for those Germans who dissented from the decree of the Diet of Spires, an assembly of the estates of the Holy Roman Empire, which called for obedience to Rome. It was first used in English in 1539, and within a few years had broadened out in application to denote anyone dissenting from Roman Catholicism.
=> attest, contest, detest, testament, testicle, testify
protocol: protocol: [16] Protocol originally denoted an ‘official record of a transaction’. Not until the end of the 19th century, as a reborrowing from French, did it come to be used for ‘rules of etiquette’ (the semantic link is an intermediate sense ‘draft of a treaty or other diplomatic document’, which led to its use in French for the ‘department in charge of diplomatic etiquette’). It goes back via Old French prothocole and medieval Latin prōtocollum to Greek prōtókollon, a compound formed from prótos ‘first’ and kólla ‘glue’ which meant ‘flyleaf glued to the front of a book giving a list of its contents’.
=> colloid
protozoa: protozoa: [19] Greek prótos meant ‘first’ (like English first and Latin prīmus ‘first’ it goes back ultimately to Indo-European *pro ‘before, in front’). It forms the basis of a wide range of English words, both original Greek compounds and post-classical formations, among them protagonist [17] (etymologically the ‘first or leading actor’), protein, protocol, proton [20], protoplasm [19], and prototype [17]. Protozoa itself was coined in modern Latin by the zoologist Goldfuss in 1818 from proto- and Greek zóia ‘animals’ (source of English zoo), the notion being that the protozoa are the simplest or most primitive forms of life.
=> zoo
proud: proud: [OE] Proud was borrowed in the 10th century from Old French prud. This came from a Vulgar Latin *prōdis, a derivative of Latin prōdesse ‘be beneficial’, which was a compound formed from prōd-, a variant of prō- ‘for’, and esse ‘be’. The Old French adjective meant ‘good, brave’, and it is thought that the sense ‘having a high opinion of oneself’, which does not occur in Old French but is the earliest recorded in English, may reflect what the Anglo- Saxons thought of Norman nobles who referred to themselves as prud barun or prud chevalier.

A later form of Old French prud or prod was prou, whose derivative proesce ‘bravery’ passed into English as prowess [13]; and English is also indebted to prud for prude.
=> pride, prowess, prude
prove: prove: [12] The ultimate source of prove was Latin probus ‘good’. This went back (like the related Sanskrit prabhu- ‘eminent, mighty’) to a prehistoric Indo-European compound *probhwo- ‘being in front’, hence ‘excelling’ (*promeant ‘in front’, and *bhwo- was the ancestor of English be). From it was derived the verb probāre ‘test, approve, prove’, which has given English approve, probable, probe, proof, reprobate, reprove, and of course prove, acquired via Old French prover. Another Latin derivative of probus was probitās ‘honesty’, from which English gets probity [16].
=> approve, probable, probe, proof, reprobate
provender: provender: see prebend
proverb: proverb: [14] Latin prōverbium meant literally ‘set of words put forth’ – that is, ‘commonly uttered’. It was a compound formed from the prefix prō- ‘forth’ and verbum ‘word’ (source of English verb, verbal, etc). English acquired it via Old French proverbe.
=> adverb, verb, verbal, word
provide: provide: [15] The -vide of provide goes back to Latin vidēre ‘see’ (source of English vision), which is a long way from the English verb’s main present-day meaning, ‘supply’. Its Latin ancestor prōvidēre, formed with the prefix prō- ‘before’, meant ‘foresee’ – a sense which survived into English: ‘evident and sufficient signs, whereby may be provided and foreseen the aborcement [abortion] before it comes’, Thomas Raynalde, Birth of Mankind 1545.

But already in Latin it had moved on to ‘exercise foresight by making preparations’, and this formed the basis of the later ‘supply’. Other English descendants of prōvidēre include improvise, provident [15] (a close relative of prudent), provision [14], proviso [15], and purvey [13].
=> improvise, provision, proviso, prudent, purvey, vision
provoke: provoke: see vocation
provost: provost: [OE] A provost is etymologically an official ‘placed before’ others – that is, put in charge of them. The word’s ancestor is Latin praepositus ‘superintendent’, a noun use of the past participle of praepōnere, a compound verb formed from the prefix prae- ‘in front’ and pōnere ‘put’ (source of English position, post, etc). In medieval Latin a variant form prōpositus emerged, which was borrowed into Old English as profost. This was supplemented in Middle English by the Anglo-Norman form provost.
=> position
prow: prow: [16] ‘Being in front’ is the etymological notion that underlies prow. It comes ultimately from Greek próira ‘front of a ship’, which was probably a derivative of Indo-European *pro ‘before, in front’. It reached English via Latin prōra and Old French proue.
prowess: prowess: see proud