Etymology

prophases

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Today it means: The actual reasons for going to war. These may differ from proschemata, the pretexts offered to the public. Full definition →

Ancient Greek πρόφασις
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromπρόφασις“pretense, pretext, excuse”
  2. English todayprophases

Ancient Greek πρόφασις (próphasis, “pretense, pretext, excuse”), first popularized by Thucydides, who attempted to discern Athens' alethestate prophasis, or "truest reason" for waging war on Sparta in the Peloponnesian War.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.