prothesis
English
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɑθəsəs/
Etymology 1
Late Latin prothesis, prosthesis, alteration (dropping the ‘s’) from Ancient Greek πρόσθεσις (prósthesis, “addition, augmentation”),[1][2][3] (English prosthesis) from προστίθημι (prostíthēmi, “I add”), from πρός (prós, “towards”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “I place”), from Proto-Indo-European *próti, *préti + *dʰédʰeh₁- (“to be putting, to be placing”).
However, often confused for a descendant of the Ancient Greek word πρόθεσις (próthesis, “a preposing, preposition”) (without the σ (s)), which is instead the source of a different term – see alternative etymology, below.
Noun
prothesis (plural protheses)
- (phonology) The prepending of phonemes at the beginning of a word without changing its morphological structure, as in Spanish esfera from Latin sphaera (“sphere”) (expected form would be *sfera).
Synonyms
Antonyms
Related terms
Translations
Etymology 2
From Ancient Greek πρόθεσις (próthesis, “a preposing”), from προτίθημι (protíthēmi, “I prepose”), from πρό (pró, “before”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “I place”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro + *dʰédʰeh₁- (“to be putting, to be placing”).
Noun
prothesis (plural protheses)
- a type of preparatory ceremony, part of the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church
References
- Merriam-Webster: etymology of prosthesis
- Merriam-Webster: etymology of prothesis
- Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, ed. Institute of Manolis Triantafyllidis (1998): "πρόθεση": etymology of Latin prothesis.