English
prototype
Prototype may come from French prototype.
- Frenchc. 1600–presentprototypeuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1658same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentprototypeuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1658same form
Earliest quotation: 1658, Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter I.: “And if Jordan were but Jaar Eden, that is,…”
A compound of πρῶτος ‘first’ + τῠ́πος ‘blow, pressing’
Proto-Hellenic *pro-atos
Ancient Greek πρό ‘before’
Ancient Greek πρῶτος ‘first’
Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- ‘to push, beat’
Ancient Greek τῠ́πτω ‘to poke, beat’
Ancient Greek τῠ́πος ‘blow, pressing’
The story
The word is analysable as proto- + -type.
Every English word from French prototype
Today it means
noun An original form or object which is a basis for other forms or objects (particularly manufactured items), or for its generalizations and models.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / French prototype / prototype