English
prize
Prize comes from Middle English prise, from Old French prise ‘a taking, capture’, from prendre ‘to take’, from Latin prehendō ‘to seize’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰed-‘to find; to hold’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰnédtireconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*hendō‘to hold’reconstructed
- Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*praiɣendōreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprehendōas prēndō‘to seize, grasp’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400prendre‘to take’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400prise‘seizure, taking’past participle of prendre
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prise
- Englishearliest quotation 1596prize
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰed-‘to find; to hold’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰnédtireconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*hendō‘to hold’reconstructed
- Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*praiɣendōreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprehendōas prēndō‘to seize, grasp’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400prendre‘to take’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400prise‘seizure, taking’past participle of prendre
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prise
- Englishearliest quotation 1596prize
Earliest quotation: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book IV, Canto IV: “[…] wherefore he now begunne To challenge her anew,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- ‘to find’
yet, guess, prey, predator, apprehend, predation, impregnable, reprieve, beget, prehensile, 30 more
through Proto-Italic *praiɣendō
prisoner, imprison, impresario, 12 more
through Latin prehendō ‘to take, seize’
prison, comprehensive, apprentice, comprehend, comprehension, comprise, apprehension, apprehensive, reprehensible, 14 more
through Old French prendre ‘to take, to capture’
through Old French prise ‘a taking, capture, a seizure, a thing seized,…’
Another origin of prize
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*per-‘in front’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*pr-é-ti ~ *pr-ó-tireconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pretjomreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpretium‘price, value’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400pris‘price’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400priser‘to set a price or value on, esteem, value’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prysen
- Englishtodayprize
Today it means
noun That which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- / prize