English
prince
Prince comes from Anglo-Norman prince, from Latin prīnceps ‘first, foremost’, from prīmus ‘first’ + capiō ‘to take’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprīnceps‘first, foremost; chief’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400prince
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1603same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprīnceps‘first, foremost; chief’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400prince
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1603same form
Earliest quotation: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “Truely, to see our Princes all alone, sitting at…”
A compound of prīmus ‘first’ + capiō ‘seize, take’
Proto-Indo-European *per- ‘before, in front’
Proto-Indo-European *préy ‘before, in front’
Proto-Italic *prīzmos ‘foremost, first’
Latin prīmus ‘first’
Proto-Indo-European *kap-
Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti ‘to be grasping’
Proto-Italic *kapjō ‘to take, seize’
Archaic Latin kapiō
Latin capiō ‘seize, take’
Every English word from Latin prīnceps
Today it means
noun A (male) ruler, a sovereign; a king, monarch.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin prīnceps / prince