prostratus

Forms

prōstrātus, prōstrāta, prōstrātum; first/second-declension adjective.^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin prōsternō (“to lay flat, throw down”).^[1][2][3] The verb is formed with prō- from sternō (“to spread out”),^[4] which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *st(e)r-n-h₃- (“to spread, strew”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective it is found in Columella (1st century AD), who writes that flat fish are not given the same food as those that swim upright: neque eadem praebentur cibaria prostratis piscibus et rectis.^[1][6]

Semantic evolution

Otherwise the dictionaries treat it as the participle of prōsternō, laid low or prostrate.^[2][7][8] English prostrate, first meaning lying face down on the ground, was taken from it in the mid-14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of flat fish.^[1][6]
• mid-14th century – English borrows prostrate from the Latin participle.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of fish) Flat.^[1]
2. Thrown down, laid low, prostrate (participle of prōsternō).^[2][7]

Related words

• English prostrate

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier