prodigious

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*per-der.?
2. Proto-Indo-European*pér
3. Proto-Indo-European*pró
4. Proto-Indo-European*pro-
5. Proto-Italic*pro-
6. Latinprō-
7. Proto-Indo-European*h₁eǵ-
8. Proto-Indo-European*h₁ǵyéti
9. Proto-Italic*agjō
10. Proto-Italic*ajjō
11. Latinaiō
12. Latinprōdigium
13. Proto-Indo-European*h₃ed-
14. Proto-Indo-European*h₃édosder.?
15. Latinprōdigiōsus
16. Middle Englishprodigious
17. English todayprodigious

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English prodigious (“warning of disaster, portentous”), from Latin prōdigiōsus (“strange, unnatural; marvellous, wonderful, prodigious”), from prōdigium (“prophetic sign, omen, portent; prodigy, wonder”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of’ forming adjectives from nouns). Prōdigium is derived from prō- (prefix denoting a forward direction, something before or prior, or prominence) + aiō (“to say, speak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵ- (“to say”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The English word is analysable as prodigy + -ous. The adverb is derived from the adjective. Cognates * Catalan prodigiós * Middle French prodigieux (“portentous”) (modern French prodigieux) * Italian prodigioso * Portuguese prodigioso * Spanish prodigioso

Words from the same roots