Where does “prisoner” come from?
Prisoner comes from Middle English prisoner, from Old French prisonier, from Old French prison meaning confinement, from Latin prehendere meaning to seize, with the agent suffix -arius forming one who seizes.
prisoner (English): A person incarcerated in a prison, while on trial...
Definitions
- A person incarcerated in a prison, while on trial...
Ancestry of “prisoner”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | prisoner | one who imprisons (others); a jailer |
| 2 | Old French | prisonier | prisoner |
| 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 |