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.
Showing posts with label pre- etymology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pre- etymology. Show all posts
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Language Of Confusion: Prefixes, Part III
Back on the prefixes. And there
are still a lot more that I won’t be looking at.
What better way to finish off my
look at prefixes than by looking at the one that’s actually part of prefix? It
comes from the Old French
pre- and Medieval
Latin pre-, which are from the classical Latin prae,
before (another one). It’s from the Proto
Indo European peri-, which is from the root per-, which I’m
sure looks familiar to you.
Per generally means through,
and is related to per the word, as both come from the classical Latin per, which means by, through, or just plain per.
That word comes from the Proto Indo European per- that I mentioned earlier. The
PIE per- means forward, in front of,
first, stuff like that, and is part of just so many words even when it’s not
being a prefix. It’s also the origin for all the words we’re looking at this
week, because it’s that prevalent. Seriously, click on that link to the
Etymology Online page on per- to see the massive list on the words per- is
related to.
This one shouldn’t be too
surprising. Pro- means forward or toward the front,
before, in place of, or taking care of. It comes from the classical Latin pro,
which has pretty much all those meanings to it. And of course it’s from per-. A flexible word leads to a flexible
prefix.
Pur- isn’t used all that much,
only showing up in a few words, like purchase, purpose, and purport. Its
origins are Middle
English and Anglo
French, where it was what’s known as “perfective”, a kind of language form
we don’t have in English anymore used to indicate a completed action.
Pur- comes from the Vulgar
Latin por-, which is from the classical Latin pro. So everything
comes full circle.
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
University
of Texas at Arlington
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Fordham
University
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