The story
- Proto-Indo-European*per-
- Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
- Proto-Indo-European*préh₂i?
- Proto-Italic*prai
- Proto-Italic*prai-
- Latinprae-
- Middle Englishpre-
- Englishpre-
- Proto-Indo-European*weyd-
- Proto-Indo-European*wéydtōr
- Proto-Hellenic*wístōr
- Ancient Greekῐ̔́στωρ (hĭ́stōr)
- Ancient Greekῐ̔στορέω (hĭstoréō)
- Ancient Greekῐ̔στορῐ́ᾱ (hĭstorĭ́ā)
- Latinhistoria
- Old Frenchestoire
- Old Frenchestorie
- Old Frenchhistorie
- Middle Englishhistorie
- Englishhistory
- English todayprehistory
From pre- (“before”) + history, first attested in the Foreign Quarterly Review in 1836, after the model of prehistoric, from French préhistorique.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.