Etymologically
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proporro

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Forms

prōporrō (adverb)[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō (“forth”) + porrō (“further on”), formed like proinde.[1][3] The OLD calls porrō cognate with Ancient Greek πόρρω (pórrhō, “forwards, far off”);[1] Wiktionary notes that the old Greek form πρόσω (prósō) does not fit a borrowing well and that the Latin word is probably related to Proto-Indo-European *pro-.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and Lewis and Short cite a line of Lucilius,[5][6] but the TLL treats the word there as an editor's conjecture.[3] It is otherwise a word of Lucretius,[6][3] who uses it of people who ask in turn what the first beginnings of things are.[1][7]

Semantic evolution

It continues a movement begun before, much like porrō: in turn, further, again.[3][1][2] Lucretius uses it of atoms set in motion that in turn strike larger bodies, and of the mind that strikes the soul, which in turn strikes the body so that the whole frame is pushed forward.[3] In his account of the soul he calls a fourth element the soul of the soul, which Lewis and Short render as altogether or utterly.[6][3] In one Lucretian passage the TLL thinks the context corrupt.[3]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of things acting in turn.[1][5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. In its sequence, in turn; further, again.[1][2]
  2. Altogether, utterly.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier