prospero Latin · revision 36541

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la prosperus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈprɔs.pɛ.roː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈprɔs.pe.ro]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''prosperō''' (present infinitive prosperāre, perfect active prosperāvī, supine prosperātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|prosperus|-ō|t1=fortunate, favourable]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has it first:^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) in the ''Persa'' a speaker means to do a favour to a friend and to treat himself well.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant to make something succeed, to [[m|en|further]]: Livy quotes an old prayer asking the gods to give the Roman people power and victory, and Tacitus has prayers that the gods may bless an undertaking.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Horace prays that the senate's decrees may prosper, and Apuleius describes gods who avert evil and further good.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) Valerius Maximus uses it of birds giving no favourable sign.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In Christian Latin it also meant to make propitious, as in Prudentius,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) and the Vulgate has ''o Domine bene prosperare'' in Psalm 117 (118);^(Lewis & Short 1879) Stelten gives the ecclesiastical sense “to succeed, prosper”.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|prosper]] comes from it, partly through French, in the mid-14th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of doing a favour to a friend.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the ''Carmen saeculare''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy quotes it from an old form of prayer.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of the gods blessing an undertaking.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in the Psalms and Jeremiah.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * mid-14th century – English borrows it as [[m|en|prosper]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make (a plan or aim) [[m|en|succeed]], help forward, [[m|en|further]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To grant, bestow (as a favour).^(Conte 2010)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(intransitive)'' To do a favour to someone; of omens, to be [[m|en|favourable]].^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(Late Latin)'' To make [[m|en|propitious]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' To [[m|en|prosper]], succeed.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|prosper]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}