Language Of Confusion: Per-, Part VI

There’s still more to look at from the Proto Indo European per-, forward. Quite a lot more, actually.
 
First, we’re going to look at prompt, which showed up in the mid fourteenth century as a verb, then the early fifteenth century as a noun and adjective. It comes from the classical Latin promptus, prompt or ready, which is from the verb promere, to bring forth. The pro literally means forward (from per-, of course), and the rest is emere, to take. Prompt is to take forward. I’m not sure if that makes sense or if my brain broke.
 
There’s also protest, which I believe I looked at with test words a very long time ago. It showed up in the fifteenth century meaning a pledge or declaration, then meaning a statement of disapproval in the eighteenth century, then a formal declaration of being against something in the nineteenth, and finally what we use it for in 1942—that recently! It’s from the Old French protest (not at all surprised protest is French), with the pro meaning forth or before, and the rest meaning testify. A protest is testifying before. I guess.
 
Next, how about prophet, which is very old, having shown up in the late twelfth century. It’s from the Old French prophete/profete and classical Latin propheta, and they of course took it from the Greek prophetes. Pro again means before, while the rest is from the Greek phanai, to speak. Prophets speak forward.
 
Prodigal showed up in the sixteenth century meaning lavish or wasteful, from the French prodigal and Late Latin prodigalis. That’s then from the classical Latin prodigus, lavish, with the pro- meaning forth, and the rest from the verb agere, to set in motion or act. Not sure how it got to lavish and wasteful from there, but apparently it did.
 
Finally today: approximate. It showed up as a verb in the fifteenth century and an adjective two centuries later, from the Late Latin approximatus, and its verb form approximare, to come near to. The a- comes from ad-, to, and the rest is the classical Latin verb proximare, to approach. That’s then from prope, near, from the PIE propro, on and on, from per-. And that’s how on and on leads to approximate.
 
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
Orbis Latinus

From The Spamfiles

Spam week! Let’s see how they’re trying to scam me now.

So much to get into here. Honestly, the “days” thing is an annoying mistake, but I am offended at the use of n apostrophe in place of and.

…Just how old do you think I am?

I don’t remembering entering all these contests where I’ve won an toolset, but they just keep coming in.

Wow! I was selected to received a direct deposited of $750 from an app I never even signed up for! Miraculous!

The most annoying part of this is that Virtual Starlight Kid sounds like a real Tumblr name, and I wish it was mine.

Language Of Confusion: Per, Part V

We’re back looking at the Proto Indo European per-, forward, which shows up in a lot of places.
 
First this week, prime, which showed up in the late fourteenth century from the Old French prime and classical Latin primus, first. That’s actually from the Proto Italic prismos, from the PIE preis-, before, which of course is from per-. Now that’s a very sensible etymology.
 
Then there’s premiere, which didn’t show up until 1889 in reference to the first performance of a play. It was taken directly from premier, which premiered (couldn’t resist) in the mid fifteenth century and meant first until 1711 when it was used to mean the “first minister of a state”. It’s from the French premier, first, and that’s also from primus, big surprise. Every other prime word is from primus, too, like primal, which showed up in the seventeenth century through the Medieval Latin primalis, and primary, in the fifteenth century.
 
We also have prior, which showed up in the early eighteenth century directly from the classical Latin prior, before. So. Not much change there. It’s from the Proto Indo European prai- and prei-, which of course are from pre-. Really didn’t change much. A religious prior is also related, from the Middle English priour and before that, the Medieval Latin prior, a superior officer. And that’s from the Latin prior. I do see the relationship between superior and before, though it’s weird that the noun version of the word came through English, and appeared likely before the other one.
 
Next is proud. It comes from the Old English prud, Old French prud, Late Latin prode, and classical Latin prodesse, to benefit. The pro- part is from per, while the esse part is to be, which would make this to be forward. Hm. Anyway, related to that is the word prowess, which showed up in the early thirteenth century meaning an act of bravery. It’s from the Old French proece, which happens to also be from prud. Prowess and proud are related. Who knew?
 
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
University of Texas at Arlington
Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English
Old English-English Dictionary
Dictionary of Medieval Latin
Orbis Latinus

Real Horror

I remember when spiders were the worst thing I was scared of.

It’s putting a damper on the season, I can tell you that much.

Language Of Confusion: Per, Part IV

We still have plenty of words left that are descended from the Proto Indo European per-, forward.
 
First of all, paradise. It showed up first in late Old English specifically referring to the garden of Eden, and it comes from the Old French paradis, Late Latin paradisus, and the Greek paradeisos. Interestingly enough, that actually comes from Avestan origin—Avestan being an Arabic language in the third and fourth centuries—and in fact the modern Arabic word firdaus means paradise. So Avestan had the word pairidaeza, enclosure or park, where pairi- means around and is from per- while the rest is from diz, to make or form a wall.
 
Pardon showed up in the fourteenth century, from the Old French pardon/pardoner, Medieval Latin perdonum, and Vulgar Latin perdonare. The per is of course form per, through in Latin, and going through something is going forward, I guess. The rest of the word is from the classical Latin donare, to give, the origin word of donor. To pardon is to give a gift. Through.
 
Next, paramount, which showed up in the mid sixteenth century from the Anglo French/Old French paramont, which is also from the Latin per plus amont, which means upward or upstream (and is the origin of amount). Paramount is through upwards. I guess something paramount is upwards of everything?
 
Paramour is weirdly funny. It showed up in the early fourteenth century, from the Anglo French/Old French par amour, and you know the par is from per, while the rest is from amare, to love. Paramour is to love through. The funny part? Originally, paramour was used to refer to Jesus—by women—or the Virgin Mary—by men. Make of that what you will.
 
Promise showed up in the fourteenth century from the Old French promesse and classical Latin promissum, promised. The verb form is promittere, with the pro- from per- and the mittere meaning to send or release—the origin of mission, a word I looked at a very long time ago.
 
Finally today, we’ll look at pristine. It showed up in the mid sixteenth century, but back then it meant primitive or earliest period, not meaning pure until 1899—and back then, it was slang that educated people would not use to mean something like untouched. It’s from the French pristin, and classical Latin pristinus, which actually means former or original, with the pri- meaning before in Old Latin (and from per of course). The takeaway here? Pristine is slang! If you use it to mean pure or untouched, you’re using it wrong!!!
 
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
University of Texas at Arlington
Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English
Dictionary of Medieval Latin
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Fordham University
Orbis Latinus
BrightHub [https://www.brighthubeducation.com/]

October Goals

Okay, somehow it’s October, don’t know how that happened. Ha ha, a month left until the election, I’m fine, I’m totally fine, we’re not all going to die if it goes the wrong way or anything.
 
I can’t remember what I was supposed to be doing last month.
 
September Goals
1. Find something new to write that actually interests me.
At long last, I found something that I really want to write! Yay!
 
2. Edit something old to post on my other site. Luckily I have tons of options.
Getting around to it. I’m pretty sure I know what I’m going to go for.
 
3. Try to read some more. Maybe this will help me recharge.
Definitely didn’t do this as much as I’d like. I wish I had a few more hours in the day.
 
And now for October…
 
October Goals
1. I’d like to get another 30K down in my new project. Of course now my laptop has decided to randomly not type the R Y U I O and P letters. You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to get that sentence out. Ha ha this is giving me an aneurysm.

 
2. Hopefully find some time to edit an old project.
 
3. Actually get back to editing my last WIP.  Not sure I’ll have time though.
 
That’s the plan. What do you want to do? Are you glad the weather is changing?

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