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Origin and history of prima

prima

"first," Italian fem. of primo "first" (see primo); used in various imported phrases in music and theater, such as prima donna, prima ballerina (1799).

Entries linking to prima

prima donna(n.)

also primadonna, 1782, "principal female singer in an opera," from Italian prima donna "first lady," from Latin prima, fem. of primus "first" (see prime (adj.)) + domina "lady" (see dame). Extended meaning "temperamental person" is attested by 1834.

The erroneous form premadonna (or pre-madonna) is attested from at least 1950s and increasingly after 1990s. Not to be confused with the adjective pre-Madonna (by 1991), in reference to popular music before the rise to stardom of Madonna (Madonna Louise Ciccone), c. 1985.

primo

1740 in music terms, "first, principal," from Italian primo "first, chief," from Latin primus "first" (see prime (adj.)). As slang for "excellent, first-class," perhaps an elaboration of prime (see -o). Of drugs, by 1990s, street slang.

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    star
    "celestial body appearing as a luminous point," Middle English sterre, from Old English steorra "star," from Proto-Germanic *sternan- (source also of Old Saxon sterro, Old Frisian stera, Dutch ster, Old High German sterro, German Stern, Old Norse stjarna, Swedish stjerna, Danish
    correspondent
    an Andalusian balcony, playing a rubber at the club on the off-nights of the Opera, being very musical when the handsome Prima...Donna sings, and very light fantastic toeish when the lively Prima Ballerina dances; another day roughing it over the Balkan...
    prime
    earliest canonical hour of the day" (6 a.m.), from Old English prim and Old French prime and directly from Medieval Latin prima..."the first service," from Latin prima hora "the first hour" (of the Roman day), from Latin primus "first, the first, first...
    primrose
    early spring, earlier primerole (early 14c.), from Old French primerose, primerole (12c.) and directly from Medieval Latin prima...
    minute
    In Medieval Latin, pars minuta prima "first small part" was used by mathematician Ptolemy for one-sixtieth of a circle, later...
    checkmate
    mid-14c., in chess, said of a king when it is in check and cannot escape it, from Old French eschec mat (Modern French échec et mat), which (with Spanish jaque y mate, Italian scacco-matto) is from Arabic shah mat "the king died" (see check (n.1)), which according to Barnhart is
    spurious
    1590s, of persons, "born out of wedlock, bastard," from Latin spurius "illegitimate, false" (source also of Italian spurio, Spanish espurio), from spurius (n.) "illegitimate child," probably from Etruscan spural "public." The sense of "having an irregular origin, not properly con
    salary
    late 13c., salarie, "compensation, payment," whether periodical, for regular service or for a specific service; from Anglo-French salarie, Old French salaire "wages, pay, reward," from Latin salarium "an allowance, a stipend, a pension," said to be originally "salt-money, soldier
    mimosa
    genus of leguminous shrubs, 1731, coined in Modern Latin (1619) from Latin mimus "mime" (see mime (n.)) + -osa, adjectival suffix (fem. of -osus). So called because some species (including the common Sensitive Plant) fold leaves when touched, seeming to mimic animal behavior. As
    so long
    parting salutation, 1860, of unknown origin, perhaps from a German idiom (compare German parting salutation adieu so lange, the full sense of which probably is something like "farewell, whilst (we're apart)"); or perhaps from or influenced by Hebrew shalom (via Yiddish sholom). S

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