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prora

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word prora

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek πρῷρα
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (πρῷρα)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈproː.ra][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈprɔː.ra][1]

Forms

prōra f (genitive prōrae); first declension[1] Accius has a form prōris (accusative prōrim), made after puppis.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πρῷρα (prôira, “prow”).[4][2][3][1][5] Etymonline relates the Greek word to πρό (pró, “before, forward”),[6] and Wiktionary and Köbler trace it to Proto-Indo-European *per- (“forward, through”).[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short cite Plautus, of someone who stood at the prow;[2] Köbler dates it from Lucilius.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is the prow, the forepart of a ship, opposed to puppis, the stern: Caesar describes the very high prows of the Gaulish ships, and Virgil turns prows to land.[2] By metonymy it is the ship itself, in Propertius, Ovid and Virgil's bronze-clad prows on the shore.[4][2] Cicero quotes the Greek proverb “prow and stern”, meaning his whole intention from beginning to end.[2]

English prow (1550s) came from it through French proue and Genoese prua, from a Vulgar Latin *proda.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[2][5]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius.[5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of the prows of Gaulish ships.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of prows standing for ships.[2][5]
  • 1550s – English prow, through French and Italian.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The prow of a ship.[4][2][1]
  2. (by metonymy) A ship.[4][2]

Word family

  • biprōrus

Usage notes

Cicero's prōra et puppis renders the Greek proverb for one's whole design from start to finish.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  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 c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g 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

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Prora.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/prora. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·