prairieyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[prairie 词源字典]
prairie: [18] Prairie comes ultimately from Latin prātum ‘meadow’ (source also of French pré ‘meadow’). From it was derived Vulgar Latin *prātāria, which passed into English via French prairie. The word was from the start almost exclusively used with reference to the plains of North America.
[prairie etymology, prairie origin, 英语词源]
prairie (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
tract of level or undulating grassland in North America, by 1773, from French prairie "meadow, grassland," from Old French praerie "meadow, pastureland" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *prataria, from Latin pratum "meadow," originally "a hollow." The word existed in Middle English as prayere, but was lost and reborrowed to describe the American plains. Prairie dog is attested from 1774; prairie schooner "immigrant's wagon" is from 1841. Illinois has been the Prairie State since at least 1861. In Latin, Neptunia prata was poetic for "the sea."