Etymologically
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prototypus

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Forms

prōtotypus (feminine prōtotypa, neuter prōtotypum); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πρωτότυπος (prōtótupos, “original, primitive”).[1][3][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Marius Victorinus, a grammarian, uses it for the basic metres from which the others arise.[3][1]

Semantic evolution

Fortunatianus speaks of metra principalia, quae a Graecis prototypa et archigona dicuntur, “the principal metres, which the Greeks call prototypa and archigona”.[3] Charisius uses it of primitive words, from which others such as comparative adverbs are formed, and Dositheus has a noun prototypos, “the primitive form”.[3][2]

In medieval logic and theology it meant the first or primary type, the archetype: Roger Bacon's Greek grammar defines it as the first figure or primitive species, and Duns Scotus contrasts an image with its prototype.[4] English prototype, about 1600, comes from French and directly from medieval Latin.[5]

Timeline

  • 1st half of the 4th century AD – Marius Victorinus uses it of the basic metres.[3][6]
  • c. 310–380 AD – Dositheus uses prototypos as a noun.[2][6]
  • c. 362 AD – Charisius uses it of primitive words.[3][6]
  • c. 1600 – English borrows it as prototype.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (grammar) Original, primitive: of the basic metres, from which others are derived.[3][1]
  2. (grammar) Of a word: primitive, not derived.[3]

Noun

  1. (grammar) A primitive form.[2][3]
  2. (Medieval Latin) An archetype, prototype.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de