prognosis

Forms

prognōsis f (genitive prognōsis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πρόγνωσις (prógnōsis, “foreknowledge”).^[2][3][4] The Greek noun comes from προγιγνώσκω (progignṓskō, “to know beforehand”), formed with πρό (pró, “before”).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's oldest records are in the Latin translation of Irenaeus, where Prognosis is the name of one of the Gnostic aeons, and in the medical writer Vindicianus (4th century AD), where it is a technical term of medicine.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

In medicine it meant the forecast of the course of a disease, as in Caelius Aurelianus;^[2][3][7] more generally it meant foreknowledge, as in Isidore of Seville.^[2][3] The TLL also records it as a term of grammar and rhetoric, and a gloss explains it as a kind of understanding.^[7]

Medieval British writers used it for a prophecy or prediction.^[4] English took the medical term from Late Latin in the 17th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 4th century AD – Vindicianus uses it as a medical term.^[7][5]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of the forecast of a disease.^[2][7][5]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville uses it for foreknowledge.^[2][3][5]
• 1650s – Borrowed into English as prognosis, the forecast of the course of a disease.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Foreknowledge, presage.^[2][7][3]
2. (medicine) A prognosis, forecast of the course of a disease.^[2][3][8]
3. (Gnosticism) The name of one of the aeons.^[7]
4. (Medieval Latin) A prophecy, prediction.^[4]

Related words

• English prognosis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.