English
prepotent
Prepotent comes from Latin praepotens ‘very powerful’, and goes back to potēns ‘being able (to), able’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpotēns‘being able (to), able’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraepotens‘very powerful’
- Englishearliest quotation 1521prepotent
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpotēns‘being able (to), able’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraepotens‘very powerful’
- Englishearliest quotation 1521prepotent
Earliest quotation: 1521, Henry Bradshaw, The Holy Lyfe and History of saynt Werburge: “To ordre his subiectes after true iustice / As…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pótis ‘master, ruler’
through Proto-Italic *potis ‘master, in control of’
impossible, possibility, 3 more
through Latin potēns ‘being able (to), able’
Today it means
adj Very powerful; superior in force, influence, or authority; predominant.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin potēns / prepotent