Language Of Confusion: Per-, Part III

Once again, we’re looking at the words descended from the Proto Indo European per-, forward. Now that we have the prefixes out of the way, we can look at some of the words that grew out of them.
 
First, protocol. It showed up in the mid fifteenth century (also spelled prothogol and prothogall), from the French prothocole and Medieval Latin protocollum, and guess what? Back then it meant prologue, then a draft of a document, the minutes of a meeting, rough draft, diplomatic document, and finally in French, the “formula of diplomatic etiquette”. Which English picked up for use in 1896, and not really meaning proper conduct until 1952. Anyway, that protocollum comes from the Greek protokollon, with the proto- from the prefix meaning first, and the rest from kolla, which means… glue. Yeah, protocol is “first glue”.
 
Next, prone showed up in the fifteenth century, from the classical Latin pronus, which figuratively means prone and literally means bent forward. And that’s believed to be taken from the pro- prefix, which means forward. Being prone is being bent towards something. Sometimes literally!
 
A little more surprising is approach. It showed up in the fourteenth century from the Anglo French approcher, Old French aprochier, and Late Latin appropiare. The a- prefix is from ad, to, and the rest is from propiare, come nearer, related to the classical Latin prope. Prope is then from the PIE propro, even further, and that’s from per-, forward. To approach is to get nearer to. Rapprochement is actually from the same place. It showed up in 1809, from the French rapprochement, where the re- means back or again and the rest is the abovementioned aprochier. Rapprochement is near again… ment.
 
Reproach is weirdly different. It showed up in the mid fourteenth century from the Anglo French repruce, Old French reproche, and its verb form reprochier, which looks quite similar to the approach one. One possibility is that’s from the Vulgar Latin repropiare, with the re- meaning opposite of, and the rest from prope, near, which doesn’t quite make sense (this is etymology after all). Another theory is that it’s related to the classical Latin reprobus/reprobare, to reject, with the probare being the origin word of prove. And what word did we start this whole series with? Yes, so either way, reproach is from per-.
 
Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
Google Translate
Omniglot
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language
Dictionary of Medieval Latin
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Fordham University
Orbis Latinus

From The Spamfiles

Yay! I missed this.

“Barbara spies” I’m sure she does, which is why I’m not giving her any info.

More free tool sets. It really bothers me that they’re using an in front of consonants. What is up with that?

$250-$500 per days. 🙄 How many days? Probably around five hundred.

Diego really isn’t giving up. But he’s involved with AI, so he’s worse than a scammer, he’s a total scumbag thief.

Aviator game? I’ve never heard of it. He also failed to make it in any way sound interesting. This is why you work on your elevator pitches, people.

Language Of Confusion: Per-, Part II

We’re back once again looking at the Proto Indo European per-, which means forward, and is a part of a lot of words. This week: all the prefixes it’s part of.
 
First is pro-, which means forward, toward the front, before, taking care of, and in place or behalf of, all of which are kind of related to forward—and it can be a word on its own, either short for professional or the opposite of con. All of them are from the classical Latin pro, which means for as well as pretty much any of the definitions I gave you for the pro- prefix up there. Obviously that’s from the PIE per-, but also related is the prefix per- (shouldn’t be surprising). Per- usually means through or thoroughly and tends to be part of words that are of French and Latin origin. It’s from per, which is taken from Latin, and again, from the PIE per-.
 
We also have pre-, which also means before. It’s from the Old French pre-, Medieval Latin pre-, and classical Latin prae (means before, and is a seldom used prefix in English). That’s from the Proto Indo European peri-, which is just another form of per-. And speaking of peri-, that’s from here, too. It’s actually a prefix used in words of Greek origin and means around or enclosing, literally meaning about. And that’s from per-, because forward—or in front of—is about near something.
 
And we can’t forget para-, another Greek prefix. Para means despite in Greek, or in spite of, although, or than. And yes, it’s from per-. Something para- is near or metaphorically forward. The final prefix we’re going to look at is proto-, and yet again, it’s mostly in front of words of Greek origin, and from the Greek proto, which means first. Something that’s first, is forward. Thankfully that one’s simple.

 
Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
Google Translate
Omniglot
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language
Dictionary of Medieval Latin

Coming Back

I’m back on the internet, with all the horror that brings.

Wouldn’t it be nice if things somehow stopped being awful for a while?

Language Of Confusion: Per-, Part I

This series is going to be super long, because the Proto Indo European per-, forward has spawned a LOT of words, most of which I’ve never looked at before. So it’s going to be busy, is what I’m saying.
 
First, the word that sent me down this rabbit hole: prove. It showed up in the thirteenth century from the Old French prover/pruver, from the classical Latin probare, to prove, which is from the PIE pro-bhwo, being in front, and that pro- is from -per. Proving is putting stuff in front? I guess I can see it on a figurative level. Proof is pretty close, showing up in the same century but from the Anglo French prove/preove, Old French proeve/prueve, and Late Latin proba, which is then from probare. There doesn’t seem to be a real reason for the V to F thing, other than some words (relief, belief) just do that. Fun fact, proof in use of alcohol is from 1705, because its degree of strength was tested (or proven).
 
Similarly, there’s approve, which showed up in the fourteenth century. That was aprover in Old French, and approbare in Latin, so there really hasn’t been much variation over the years. With the prefix ad- meaning to, approbare is literally to forward something, and figuratively it means to test something, which I guess would move it forward. There’s also improve, which showed up in the late fifteenth century, actually meaning to increase income, which of course leads to things improving. It’s from the Anglo French emprouwer, which is a mix of the prefix em-, which is causative here, and prou, which means… profit. And that’s not the end, either. Prou comes from the classical Latin prode, again, profit, the origin word for proud.
 
Yes, proud is related. It comes from the Old English prud/prute, also just proud. That’s from the Old French prud, from the adjective prouz (which actually means brave or valiant), which is from the Latin prode. And there’s also probe, which showed up in the early fifteenth century specifically meaning a flexible rod for exploring wounds or body cavities (ew). It was taken directly from the Medieval Latin proba, which is from probare. Because you’re testing the body. With a probe. Again, ew.
 
One more for today, profit, which was already mentioned a few times. It showed up in the mid thirteenth century from the Old French profit/profit and classical Latin profectus, growth, so yes, it does not come directly from the Latin word for profit. Profectus is from the verb proficere, to make progress, with facere meaning to do and the pro meaning forward, taken from per-.
 
Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
Google Translate
Omniglot
Dictionary.com
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language
Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English
Old English-English Dictionary
Dictionary of Medieval Latin
Fordham University
Orbis Latinus

September Goals

Well, I’m back on the internet, and I think we can all agree that’s a mistake. Though really, it’s the internet that’s the mistake. Just… all of it. Anyway, goals or whatever.
 
August Goals
1. Actually attempt to find more writer spaces and beta readers this month.
Like I had the energy to do this. I barely have the energy to talk to all the people I already know.
 
2. Find something that seems fun to work on.
Eh, kind of. I’m still feeling burnt out on everything, though, and it’s a process to getting back to normal.
 
3. Birthday. I’m looking forward to it with some trepidation. Did you know the bakery that makes my favorite cake had a fire and is now closed? And there’s no news as to when they’ll open again?
Miraculously, something went right this month and the bakery opened just two weeks before my birthday.
 
And now for September…
 
September Goals
1. Find something new to write that actually interests me.
 
2. Edit something old to post on my other site. Luckily I have tons of options.
 
3. Try to read some more. Maybe this will help me recharge.
 
This is what I hope to do this month. What do you want to do?

Vacation Photos #4

Where’s Bluey? And where did that mysterious lump in the bed come from?

Another mystery solved. I’ll be back next week. Probably. If I’m not, you’ll probably read about what I did on the news.

Vacation Photos #3

Bluey still seems so small, and yet when she stretches out…

I spent ten minutes looking for Peaches before I realized she was tucked away in the corner of my bed.