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Origin and history of prothesis

prothesis(n.)

a Greek word used in various senses in English; from Greek prothesis "a putting, a placing before, a placing in public," from pro "before" (see pro-) + thesis "a placing" (from reduplicated form of PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). In the ecclesiastical sense ("preparation of the eucharistic elements before the liturgy in the Greek Church") from 1670s; grammatical sense ("addition of one or more sounds or letters at the beginning of a word") is by 1870. Related: Prothetic (1835 in grammar); prothetical; prothetically.

Entries linking to prothesis

*dhe-

*dhē-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to set, put."

It might form all or part of: abdomen; abscond; add; affair; affect (v.1) "make a mental impression on;" affect (v.2) "make a pretense of;" affection; amplify; anathema; antithesis; apothecary; artifact; artifice; beatific; benefice; beneficence; beneficial; benefit; betray; bibliothec; bodega; boutique; certify; chafe; chauffeur; comfit; condiment; confection; confetti; counterfeit; deed; deem; deface; defeasance; defeat; defect; deficient; difficulty; dignify; discomfit; do (v.); doom; -dom; duma; edifice; edify; efface; effect; efficacious; efficient; epithet; facade; face; facet; facial; -facient; facile; facilitate; facsimile; fact; faction (n.1) "political party;" -faction; factitious; factitive; factor; factory; factotum; faculty; fashion; feasible; feat; feature; feckless; fetish; -fic; fordo; forfeit; -fy; gratify; hacienda; hypothecate; hypothesis; incondite; indeed; infect; justify; malefactor; malfeasance; manufacture; metathesis; misfeasance; modify; mollify; multifarious; notify; nullify; office; officinal; omnifarious; orifice; parenthesis; perfect; petrify; pluperfect; pontifex; prefect; prima facie; proficient; profit; prosthesis; prothesis; purdah; putrefy; qualify; rarefy; recondite; rectify; refectory; sacrifice; salmagundi; samadhi; satisfy; sconce; suffice; sufficient; surface; surfeit; synthesis; tay; ticking (n.); theco-; thematic; theme; thesis; tradition; traitor; verify.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit dadhati "puts, places;" Avestan dadaiti "he puts;" Old Persian ada "he made;" Hittite dai- "to place;" Greek tithenai "to put, set, place;" Latin facere "to make, do; perform; bring about;" Lithuanian dėti "to put;" Polish dziać się "to be happening;" Russian delat' "to do;" Old High German tuon, German tun, Old English don "to do."

pro-

word-forming element meaning "forward, forth, toward the front" (as in proclaim, proceed); "beforehand, in advance" (prohibit, provide); "taking care of" (procure); "in place of, on behalf of" (proconsul, pronoun); from Latin pro (adv., prep.) "on behalf of, in place of, before, for, in exchange for, just as," which also was used as a first element in compounds and had a collateral form por-.

Also in some cases from cognate Greek pro "before, in front of, sooner," which also was used in Greek as a prefix (as in problem). Both the Latin and Greek words are from PIE *pro- (source also of Sanskrit pra- "before, forward, forth;" Gothic faura "before," Old English fore "before, for, on account of," fram "forward, from;" Old Irish roar "enough"), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, before, toward, near," etc.

The common modern sense of "in favor of, favoring" (pro-independence, pro-fluoridation, pro-Soviet, etc.) was not in classical Latin and is attested in English from early 19c.

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    preposition
    In grammatical use, a loan-translation of Greek prothesis, literally "a setting before."...
    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
    revelation
    c. 1300, revelacioun, "disclosure of information or knowledge to man by a divine or supernatural agency," from Old French revelacion and directly from Latin revelationem (nominative revelatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of revelare "unveil, uncover, lay bare" (see
    conjunction
    late 14c., "a joining or meeting of individuals or distinct things," originally of planets or stars "meeting" in the same part of the sky, from Old French conjonction "union, joining, sexual intercourse" (12c.), from Latin coniunctionem (nominative coniunctio), noun of action fro
    aftermath
    1520s, originally "a second crop of grass grown on the same land after the first had been harvested," from after + -math, which is from Old English mæð "a mowing, cutting of grass" (from PIE root *me- (4) "to cut down grass or grain"). Other words for it were aftercrop (1560s), a
    climate
    late 14c., "horizontal zone of the earth's surface measured by lines parallel to the equator," from Old French climat "region, part of the earth," from Latin clima (genitive climatis) "region; slope of the earth," from Greek klima "region, zone," literally "an inclination, slope,
    guinea
    former British coin, 1660s, from Guinea, because the coins were first minted for British trade with Guinea (but soon in domestic use) and with gold from Africa. The original guinea was in use from 1663 to 1813....region along the west coast of Africa, presumably from an African w
    leviathan
    late 14c., "sea monster, sea serpent," sometimes regarded as a form of Satan, from Late Latin leviathan, from Hebrew livyathan "dragon, serpent, huge sea animal," of unknown origin, perhaps from root l-w-h- "to wind, turn, twist," on the notion of a serpent's coils. If so, relate
    defenestration
    1620, "the action of throwing out of a window," from Latin fenestra "window." A word invented for one incident: the "Defenestration of Prague," May 21, 1618, when two Catholic deputies to the Bohemian national assembly and a secretary were tossed out the window of the castle of H
    season
    c. 1300, sesoun, seson, "a period of the year," with reference to weather or work, also "proper time, suitable occasion," from Old French seison, seson, saison "season, date; right moment, appropriate time" (Modern French saison) "a sowing, planting," from Latin sationem (nominat

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