protectorate (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict[protectorate 词源字典]
1690s in reference to the government by the Cromwells; 1795 as "occupied territory of another nation," from protector + -ate (1). Meaning "state or territory (usually tribal) placed under the protection of a major power" is from 1860.[protectorate etymology, protectorate origin, 英语词源]
protege (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1778, from French protégé (fem. protégée) "one who is protected," noun use of past participle of Middle French protéger "protect," from Latin protegere (see protect; also see protection).
protein (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1844, from French protéine, coined 1838 by Dutch chemist Gerhard Johan Mulder (1802-1880), perhaps on suggestion of Berzelius, from Greek proteios "the first quality," from protos "first" (see proto-) + -ine (2).

Originally a theoretical substance thought to be essential to life, further studies of the substances he was working with overthrew this, but the words protein and proteid continued to be used in international work on the matter and also for other organic compounds; the modern use as a general name for a class of bodies arose in German. The confusion became so great a committee was set up in 1907 to sort out the nomenclature, which it did, giving protein its modern meaning and banishing proteid.
proteinuriayoudaoicibaDictYouDict
1911, Modern Latin, from French protéinurie; see protein + urine + abstract noun ending -ia.
protero-youdaoicibaDictYouDict
before vowels proter-, word-forming element meaning "former, earlier," from comb. form of Greek proteros "before, former, anterior," from PIE *pro-, from root *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per).
Proterozoic (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1880, from protero- + zoic.
protest (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
c. 1400, "avowal, pledge, solemn declaration," from Old French protest (Modern French prôtet), from preotester, and directly from Latin protestari "declare publicly, testify, protest," from pro- "forth, before" (see pro-) + testari "testify," from testis "witness" (see testament).

Meaning "statement of disapproval" first recorded 1751; adjectival sense of "expressing of dissent from, or rejection of, prevailing mores" is from 1953, in reference to U.S. civil rights movement. First record of protest march is from 1959.
protest (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
mid-15c., "to declare or state formally or solemnly," from Old French protester, from Latin protestari "declare publicly, testify, protest" (see protest (n.)). Original sense preserved in to protest one's innocence. Related: Protested; protesting.
Protestant (n., adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1539, from German or French protestant, from Latin protestantem (nominative protestans), present participle of protestari (see protest (n.)). Originally used of German princes and free cities who declared their dissent from ("protested") the decision of the Diet of Speyer (1529), which reversed the liberal terms allowed Lutherans in 1526.
When forced to make their choice between obedience to God and obedience to the Emperor, they were compelled to choose the former. [Thomas M. Lindsay, "A History of the Reformation," New York, 1910]
The word was taken up by the Lutherans in Germany (Swiss and French preferred Reformed). It became the general word for "adherents of the Reformation in Germany," then "member of any Western church outside the Roman communion;" a sense first attested in English in 1553.
In the 17c., 'protestant' was primarily opposed to 'papist,' and thus accepted by English Churchmen generally; in more recent times, being generally opposed to 'Roman Catholic,' or ... to 'Catholic,' ... it is viewed with disfavour by those who lay stress on the claim of the Anglican Church to be equally Catholic with the Roman. [OED]
Often contemptuous shortened form Prot is from 1725, in Irish English. Protestant (work) ethic (1926) is taken from Max Weber's work "Die protestantische Ethik und der 'Geist' des Kapitalismus" (1904). Protestant Reformation attested by 1680s.
Protestantism (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1640s, from French protestantisme or else formed from Protestant + -ism.
protestation (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
mid-14c., "affirmation;" late 14c., "avowal, declaration, assertion," from Old French protestacion "protest, protestation" (13c.) and directly from Latin protestationem (nominative protestatio) "a declaration, protestation," noun of action from past participle stem of protestari (see protest (n.)).
protester (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
also protestor, 1540s, "one who makes solemn affirmation;" agent noun from protest (v.). From 1960 as "demonstrator, public opponent of the established order."
ProteusyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
c. 1400, from Greek Proteus (see Protean).
prothalamion (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"song sung before a wedding," 1590s, coined as a poem title by Edmund Spenser (based on epithalamion) from Greek pro- "before" (see pro-) + thalamos "bridal chamber" (see thalamus). Sometimes Latinized as prothalamium.
prothesis (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
from Greek prothesis "a placing before, a placing in public," from pro (see pro-) + thesis (see thesis). In ecclesiastical sense from 1670s; grammatical from 1870. Related: Prothetic (1835 in grammar); prothetical; prothetically.
prothonotary (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
also protonotary, mid-15c., "principal clerk of a court," from Late Latin prothonotarius, from Greek protonotarios "first scribe," originally the recorder of the court of the Byzantine empire, from protos "first" (see proto-) + Latin notarius (see notary). The -h- appeared in Medieval Latin
protist (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1869, from Modern Latin Protista (German Protisten, Haeckel, 1868), from Greek neuter plural of protistos "the very first," superlative of protos "first" (see proto-).
proto-youdaoicibaDictYouDict
before vowels prot-, word-forming element meaning "first, source, parent, preceding, earliest form, original, basic," from Greek proto-, from protos "first," from PIE *pre-, from root *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per).
proto-language (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1948, from proto- + language.
protocol (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1540s, as prothogall "draft of a document," from Middle French prothocole (c. 1200, Modern French protocole), from Medieval Latin protocollum "draft," literally "the first sheet of a volume" (on which contents and errata were written), from Greek protokollon "first sheet glued onto a manuscript," from protos "first" (see proto-) + kolla "glue."

Sense developed in Medieval Latin and French from "official account" to "official record of a transaction," to "diplomatic document," and finally, in French, to "formula of diplomatic etiquette." Meaning "diplomatic rules of etiquette" in English first recorded 1896, from French; general sense of "conventional proper conduct" is from 1952. "Protocols of the (Learned) Elders of Zion," Russian anti-Semitic forgery purporting to reveal Jewish plan for world domination, first published in English 1920 under title "The Jewish Peril."