English
prodigal
Prodigal comes from Late Latin prōdigālis ‘wasteful’, and goes back to Latin prōdigō ‘to consume, squander, drive forth’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōdigō‘to consume, squander, drive forth’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōdigus‘wasteful, lavish, prodigal’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEprōdigālis‘wasteful’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600prodigal
- Englishearliest quotation 1594prodigal
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōdigō‘to consume, squander, drive forth’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōdigus‘wasteful, lavish, prodigal’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEprōdigālis‘wasteful’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600prodigal
- Englishearliest quotation 1594prodigal
Earliest quotation: 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto): “Now thinkes he that her husbands ſhallow tongue, /…”
A compound of prō ‘before, forward’ + agō ‘to drive’
Proto-Indo-European *pró ‘toward’
Proto-Italic *prō ‘for’
Latin prō ‘before, forward’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- ‘to drive’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti ‘to be driving’
Proto-Italic *agō ‘to drive’
Latin agō ‘to drive’
The story
Also see unrelated prodigy. The senses of "abandoning a person or cause" and "returning after abandonment" are by allusion to the New Testament story commonly called "The Parable of the Prodigal Son", Luke 15:11–32.
Every English word from Latin prōdigō
Today it means
adj Wastefully extravagant.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin prōdigō / prodigal