Etymograph

English

prolific

Prolific comes from Latin prōlēs ‘offspring’, and goes back to *olēs ‘growth’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*olēs‘growth’reconstructed
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōlēs‘offspring’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōlificus
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentprolifique
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1937prolific

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*olēs‘growth’reconstructed
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōlēs‘offspring’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōlificus
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentprolifique
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1937prolific

Earliest quotation: 1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range: “The prolific bird life around the Inlet was thinning…”

The story

First use appears c. 1635.

Linked words

through Latin prōlēs ‘offspring’

proletariat, proletarian, 4 more

Today it means

adj Fertile; producing offspring or fruit in abundance, applied to plants producing fruit, animals producing young, etc.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin *olēs / prolific

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