Where does “apprentice” come from?
apprentice (Middle English) comes from Old French aprentis, from Old French aprendre, from Latin apprendere, from Latin apprehendere, from Latin prehendō, from Proto-Italic *praiɣendō, from Proto-Italic prai-, from Proto-Indo-European preh₂- — passed , crossed.
Ancestry of “apprentice”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | aprentis | apprentice |
| 2 | Old French | aprendre | to learn; to teach; to educate |
| 3 | Latin | apprendere | third-person plural perfect active indicative of... |
| 4 | Latin | apprehendere | third-person plural perfect active indicative of... |
| 5 | Latin | prehendō | to lay hold of, seize, grasp, grab, snatch, take, catch |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | *praiɣendō | — |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | prai- | pre-, before |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | preh₂- | before, in front |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | per- | before, in front; first; to go through |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | pr̥tós | passed , crossed |