Etymologically
Log in

prosa

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 19:19. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

prōsa f (genitive prōsae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prōrsus (“straight ahead, direct”), the feminine adjective used as a noun, short for ⟨prōrsa ōrātiō⟩, straightforward speech without the ornaments of verse.[2][3][4] The adjective is contracted from older ⟨prōvorsus⟩,[2] from prō and vorsus (“turned”),[1] from the verb that goes back to Proto-Italic *wert-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *uert-e/o- (“to turn”).[5]

The grammarian Donatus explained ⟨prōrsum⟩ as “turned forward” and the prose speech as one that song has not bent.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it from Seneca.[8] The OLD's earliest citations are from Quintilian, who sets it against poetry and writes both ⟨prorsa⟩ and ⟨prōsa⟩.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is prose as opposed to verse.[2][6] Medieval writers used it the same way and also for a work or passage in prose: Aldhelm compares prose to the walls of a building that verse roofs over, and Bede says he turned Paulinus' metrical work on Saint Felix into prose.[4] In the medieval liturgy it named the sequence, a hymn sung at Mass.[9][10]

English took the word as prose about 1300, through Old French and directly from Latin.[3]

Timeline

  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it, according to Köbler.[8]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of prose as against poetry.[2][8]
  • c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius uses it.[2][8]
  • c. 310–380 AD – Donatus explains the phrase prorsa oratio.[6][8]
  • 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it of prose writing.[4][8]
  • c. 1300 – English borrows it as prose.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Prose, as distinguished from verse.[2][6][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A work or passage in prose.[4]
  3. (Medieval Latin, Ecclesiastical Latin) A sequence sung at Mass.[9][10]

Usage notes

The OLD enters it under the fuller form prorsa.[2] The full phrase was prōrsa ōrātiō or prōsa ōrātiō, “straightforward speech”.[3][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson