Etymologically
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proludo

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Forms

prōlūdō (present infinitive prōlūdere, perfect active prōlūsī, supine prōlūsum); third conjugation[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + lūdō (“to play”).[1][3] De Vaan traces lūdō to Proto-Italic *loid-e/o- (“to play”) and Proto-Indo-European *loid- (“to let go often, play”);[4] cognate with Lithuanian léisti (“to let”).[4] Varro notes that its ⟨pro-⟩ means “before”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero's De oratore speaks of phrases with which speakers have had their preliminary practice, so that they can fight with them.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to practise or skirmish before a fight, as Virgil's sparsā ad pugnam prōlūdit harēnā, “scattering the sand, it practises for the fight”, and Ovid.[2][1] Florus has legates opening a contest with the first engagements.[2][5] Figuratively it is to rehearse or be a prelude to something greater: Juvenal says quarrels are the prelude, the elder Seneca that a whole list of the proscribed is a prelude to someone's death, and Seneca that the delays of mortal life are a prelude to a better and longer one.[1][2] Seneca also uses it of the seas rising after a prelude, and of grief that has only been rehearsing.[2] Church Latin has “practise beforehand”.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of phrases used for practice.[2][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of practising for a fight.[2][7]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of mortal life as a prelude.[2][7]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal, of quarrels as a prelude.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To carry out preliminary exercises before a fight, to practise beforehand.[1][2]
  2. (usually with dative) To rehearse for, be a prelude to.[1][2][5]

Word family

  • proludium
  • prōlūsiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de