英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

prolixity (n.)[prolixity 词源字典]: late 14c., from Old French prolixité "verbosity" (13c.), from Latin prolixitatem (nominative prolixitas), from prolixus (see prolix).[prolixity etymology, prolixity origin, 英语词源]
prologue (n.): early 14c., from Old French prologue (12c.) and directly from Latin prologus, from Greek prologos "preface to a play, speaker of a prologue," literally "a speech beforehand," from pro- "before" (see pro-) + logos "discourse, speech," from legein "to speak" (see lecture (n.)).
prolong (v.): early 15c., back-formation from prolongation or else from Old French prolonguer, porloignier (13c.), from Late Latin prolongare "to prolong, extend," from Latin pro- "forth" (see pro-) + longus "long" (adj.); see long (adj.). Related: Prolonged; prolonging; prolongable.
prolongation (n.): late 14c., from Old French prolongation (14c.), from Late Lation prolongationem (nominative prolongatio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin prolongare (see prolong).
prom (n.): "student formal dance in celebration of graduation," 1894, American English shortened form of promenade (n.). Prom dress attested from 1975.
promenade (n.): 1560s, "leisurely walk," from Middle French promenade (16c.), from se promener "go for a walk," from Late Latin prominare "to drive (animals) onward," from pro- "forth" (see pro-) + minare "to drive (animals) with shouts," from minari "to threaten" (see menace (n.)).

Meaning "place for walking" is 1640s; specifically "walkway by the sea" late 18c.; British sense of "music hall favored by 'loose women and the simpletons who run after them'" is attested from 1863. Sense of "dance given by a school" is from 1887.
promenade (v.): "to make a promenade," 1580s, from promenade (n.). Related: Promenaded; promenading.
Promethean (adj.): 1580s, from Prometheus + -an. Before the introduction of modern matches (see lucifer), promethean was the name given (early 19c.) to small glass tubes full of sulphuric acid, surrounded by an inflammable mixture, which ignited when pressed and gave off light.
Prometheus: demigod (son of the Titan Iapetus) who made man from clay and stole fire from heaven and taught mankind its use, for which he was punished by Zeus by being chained to a rock in the Caucasus, where a vulture came every day and preyed on his liver. The name is Greek, and anciently was interpreted as literally "forethinker, foreseer," from promethes "thinking before," from pro- "before" (see pro-) + *methos, related to mathein "to learn," from enlargement of PIE root *men- "to think" (see mind (n.)). However Watkins suggests the second element is possibly from a base meaning "to steal," also found in Sanskrit mathnati "he steals."
promethium (n.): radioactive element, long one of the "missing elements," 1948, so called by discoverers Jacob Marinsky and Lawrence Glendenin, who detected it in 1945 in the fusion products of uranium while working on the Manhattan Project. From Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and was punished for it, + element name ending -ium. "The name not only symbolizes the dramatic way in which the element may be produced in quantity as a result of man's harnessing of the energy of nuclear fission, but also warns man of the impending danger of punishment by the vulture of war." [Marinsky and Glendenin]
prominence (n.): 1590s, "projection," from obsolete French prominence (16c.), from Latin prominentia "a jutting out" (see prominent). Meaning "distinction, conspicuousness" is attested by 1827. As a type of solar phenomenon, from 1862.
prominent (adj.): mid-15c., "projecting, jutting out," from Latin prominentem (nominative prominens) "prominent," present participle of prominere "jut or stand out, be prominent, overhang," from pro- "before, forward" (see pro-) + minere "to project," from minae "projections, threats" (see menace (n.)). Meaning "conspicuous" is from 1759; that of "notable, leading" is from 1849. Related: Prominently.
promiscuity (n.): 1834, "indiscriminate mixture," from French promiscuité (1752), from Latin promiscuus "mixed" (see promiscuous) + French -ité (see -ity). Sexual sense is from 1844. Earlier was promiscuousness (by 1773 general; 1808 sexual).
promiscuous (adj.): c. 1600, people or things, "mingled confusedly, grouped together without order, consisting of a disorderly mix; indiscriminate," from Latin promiscuus "mixed, indiscriminate, in common, without distinction," from pro- "forward" (see pro-) + miscere "to mix" (see mix (v.)). Meaning "indiscriminate in sexual relations" recorded by 1857, from promiscuity. The Latin adjective was used with conubia (such as between patricians and plebeians). Related: Promiscuously.
promise (n.): c. 1400, "a pledge, vow," from Old French promesse "promise, guarantee, assurance" (13c.) and directly from Latin promissum "a promise," noun use of neuter past participle of promittere "send forth; let go; foretell; assure beforehand, promise," from pro- "before" (see pro-) + mittere "to put, send" (see mission). The ground sense is "declaration made about the future, about some act to be done or not done."
promise (v.): c. 1400, from promise (n.). Related: Promised; promising. Promised land (1530s) is a reference to the land of Canaan promised to Abraham and his progeny (Hebrew xi:9, etc.; Greek ten ges tes epangelias).
promising (adj.): "showing signs of future excellence," c. 1600, present participle adjective from promise (v.). Related: Promisingly.
promisor (n.): 1790, agent noun in Latin form from promise (v.). Apparently restricted to legal use.
promissory (adj.): mid-15c., from Medieval Latin promissorius, from Latin promissus, past participle of promittere (see promise (n.)). Promissory note recorded by 1670s.
promnesia (n.): scientific name for the phenomenon of déjà vu, 1895, Modern Latin, from Greek pro- "before" (see pro-) + -mnesia "memory" (see amnesia).