prope

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *prokʷe, from *pro- + *-kʷe (equivalent to Latin pro + -que). The expected form would accordingly be *proque. The second -p- is probably due to assimilation. Compare the reverse development in quinque, coquo, which was hindered here by the initial cluster pr-. A less likely explanation is borrowing from Oscan, where -𐌐𐌄 (-pe) is the regular reflex.

The change from locative/ablative to accusative is caused by the adverbial suffix.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpro.pe/, [ˈprɔpɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpro.pe/, [ˈprɔːpe]

Adverb

prope (comparative propius, superlative proximē or proxumus or proximus)

1. near, nearby, nigh, close
2. close in time
3. almost, nearly

   Synonyms: paene, fermē, ferē, iū̆xtā

4. better (as an approximation)

Preposition

prope (+ accusative)

1. near

   Domus mea prope lacum est.

   My house is near the lake.

2. (figuratively) towards, about (in time)

Derived terms

• *adprope
• appropio
• propior
• proximus
• propinquus
• propter

Descendants

• North Italian:
  • Piedmontese: preuv, pré (Piverone)
  • Lombard: preuf
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old French: prof, pruf, preu, pruef
    • → Old Italian: pruovo
  • ⇒ Norman: promais que (the "pro-" part)
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Catalan: prop
  • Occitan: prop ⇒ prèp (influenced by près)
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *propeānus
  • Old French: prochain
    • French: prochain
  • Sardinian: probianu

References

• AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 353: “accanto” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
• Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 815
• https://www.rew-online.gwi.uni-muenchen.de/?id_entry=48366
• https://locongres.org/oc/aplicacions/dicodoc-oc/

Further reading

• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be not far away: prope (propius, proxime) abesse
    
  • to be almost culpable: prope abesse a culpa
    
• “prope”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “prope”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• prope in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• prope in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.