prothesis

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)

1. (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

• prosthesis

Antonyms

• aphesis

Related terms

• prosthesis

Translations

the addition of a sound or syllable at the beginning of a word without changing the word's meaning or the rest of its structure

Armenian: նախահավելված (hy) (naxahavelvac) Catalan: pròtesi f French: prothèse (fr) f German: Prothese (de) f Italian: prostesi (it) f

Occitan: protèsi f, prostèsi f Persian: پیش‌هشت‎ (pīšhašt~pīšhešt) Portuguese: prótese (pt) f Russian: проте́за (ru) f (protɛ́za) Spanish: prótesis (es) f

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)

1. a type of preparatory ceremony, part of the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church

References

1. Merriam-Webster: etymology of prosthesis
2. Merriam-Webster: etymology of prothesis
3. Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, ed. Institute of Manolis Triantafyllidis (1998): "πρόθεση": etymology of Latin prothesis.

Anagrams

• sophister, storeship