prope

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *prokʷe, from *pro- + *-kʷe (equivalent to Latin pro + -que). The expected form would accordingly be *proque. The second -p- is probably due to assimilation. Compare the reverse development in quinque, coquo, which was hindered here by the initial cluster pr-. A less likely explanation is borrowing from Oscan, where -𐌐𐌄 (-pe) is the regular reflex.

The change from locative/ablative to accusative is caused by the adverbial suffix.

Pronunciation

Adverb

prope (comparative propius, superlative proximē or proxumus or proximus)

  1. near, nearby, nigh, close
  2. close in time
  3. almost, nearly
    Synonyms: paene, fermē, ferē, iū̆xtā
  4. better (as an approximation)

Preposition

prope (+ accusative)

  1. near
    Domus mea prope lacum est.
    My house is near the lake.
  2. (figuratively) towards, about (in time)

Derived terms

Descendants
  • North Italian:
    • Piedmontese: preuv, pré (Piverone)
    • Lombard: preuf
  • Gallo-Romance:
    • Old French: prof, pruf, preu, pruef
      • → Old Italian: pruovo
    • ⇒ Norman: promais que (the "pro-" part)
  • Occitano-Romance:
  • ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *propeānus

References

Further reading
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • to be not far away: prope (propius, proxime) abesse
    • to be almost culpable: prope abesse a culpa
  • “prope”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “prope”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • prope in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • prope in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
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