Where does “imprison” come from?
Imprison comes from Middle English emprisounen, from Old French emprisonner, combining Old French en- with a root ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gʰed-.
imprison (English): To put in or as if in prison; confine
Definitions
- To put in or as if in prison; confine
Ancestry of “imprison”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | imprisonen | — |
| 2 | Old French | emprisonner | to imprison |
| 3 | Old French | prison | prison; prisoner |
| 4 | Latin | prehensiō | an act of seizing, apprehending, arresting, capturing |
| 5 | Latin | -tiō | tion, -ation, -ing |
| 6 | Latin | dissertātiō | (spoken) dissertation, discourse, disquisition |
| 7 | Latin | dissertus | arranged, disposed; explained |
| 8 | Latin | disserere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 9 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 10 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 11 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
| 12 | Ancient Greek | χάλιξ | small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble |