porro

Forms

porrō (not comparable)^[1] An archaic porod may be found in an inscription from Praeneste.^[2][1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[3][1] It is very like Ancient Greek πόρρω (pórrhō, “forward, far off”) in form and use, and the OLD calls it cognate with that word and its older form πρόσω (prósō);^[2][3] ancient grammarians connected them,^[1] but the older Greek form does not match the Latin well, and adverbs are seldom borrowed.^[1] Köbler traces it to Proto-Indo-European *porsōd (“beside, near”), from the root of *per- (“forward, through”).^[4] Nussbaum, reported by de Vaan, tentatively derives it from Proto-Indo-European *pro- with an adverbial ⟨*-s⟩ and the ending ⟨-ō⟩ of intrō and ultrō, through ⟨*prs-ō⟩ and ⟨*porsō⟩.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[4] who has inde ībis porrō in lautumiās lapidāriās, “from there you will go on to the stone quarries”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Porrō is “straight on, forward, onward” in space, and in time “hereafter, in future” (Plautus: gubernābunt doctius porrō, “they will steer more wisely in future”).^[2][1] With a continuing action it is “on, further” (porrō loquere, “go on speaking”), and it introduces a further stage, “in turn”, a new item, “besides, next”, and a new argument, “furthermore, moreover”.^[2][1][5] In early, poetic and Late Latin it is also static, “far off, yonder”.^[1]

Church Latin glosses it “farther on, afterwards, next, furthermore, then”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: inde ībis porrō;^[2][4] porrō loquere.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Straight on, forward, onward.^[2][5][1][6]
2. Hereafter, in future.^[2][1]
3. Further, on (of a continuing action).^[2][1]
4. In turn (introducing a further stage).^[2][1]
5. Besides, next (introducing a new item).^[2][1][6]
6. furthermore, moreover;^[2][1][6] nec porrō: nor yet.^[2]
7. Far off, yonder.^[1]

Word family

• prōporrō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson