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Origin and history of proscriptive

proscriptive(adj.)

"pertaining to or consisting in proscription," 1757, from Latin proscript-, past-participle stem of proscribere (see proscribe) + -ive. Related: Proscriptively.

also from 1757

Entries linking to proscriptive

proscribe(v.)

early 15c., proscriben, "write before or in front, prefix," from Latin proscribere "publish in writing" (literally "write in front of"), including "publish as having forfeited one's property; condemn, outlaw before the world," from pro "before" (see pro-) + scribere "to write" (from PIE root *skribh- "to cut").

From mid-15c. as "to exile, put out of the protection of the law" (implied in proscribed). By 1550s as "publish the name of as condemned to death and liable to confiscation of property." The meaning "denounce and prohibit (something) as wrong or dangerous" is recorded by 1620s.

-ive

word-forming element making adjectives from verbs, meaning "pertaining to, tending to; doing, serving to do," in some cases from Old French -if, but usually directly from Latin adjectival suffix -ivus (source also of Italian and Spanish -ivo). In some words borrowed from French at an early date it has been reduced to -y (as in hasty, tardy).

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    thesis
    late 14c., "unaccented syllable or note," from Latin thesis "unaccented syllable in poetry," later (and more correctly) "stressed part of a metrical foot," from Greek thesis "a proposition," also "downbeat" (in music), originally "a setting down, a placing, an arranging; position
    giraffe
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    keel
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    promise
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    OK
    "all right, correct," 1839, only survivor of a slang fad in Boston and New York c. 1838-9 for abbreviations of common phrases with deliberate, jocular misspellings, such as K.G. for "no go," as if spelled know go; N.C. for enough said (" 'nuff ced"); K.Y. for no use ("know yuse")
    clue
    "anything that guides or directs in an intricate case," 1590s, a special use of a revised spelling of clew "a ball of thread or yarn" (q.v.). The word, which is native Germanic, in Middle English was clewe, also cleue; some words borrowed from Old French in -ue, -eu also were spe
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    other
    Old English oþer "second, the second of two; additional, further" (adj.), also as a pronoun, "one of the two; a different person or thing from the one in view," from Proto-Germanic *anthera- (source also of Old Saxon athar, Old Frisian other, Old Norse annarr, Middle Dutch and Du

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