Etymograph

English

prince

Prince comes from Anglo-Norman prince, from Latin prīnceps ‘first, foremost’, from prīmus ‘first’ + capiō ‘to take’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprīnceps1‘first, foremost; chief’
  2. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400prince1
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prince1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1603prince1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English prince
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “Truely, to see our Princes all alone, sitting at…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprīncepsWiktionary, English prince‘first, foremost; chief’
  2. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400princeWiktionary, English prince
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500princeWiktionary, English prince
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1603princeWiktionary, English prince. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “Truely, to see our Princes all alone, sitting at…”

A compound of prīmus ‘first’ + capiō ‘seize, take’

Proto-Indo-European *per- ‘before, in front’

Proto-Indo-European *préy ‘before, in front’

Proto-Italic *prīzmos ‘foremost, first’

Latin prīmus ‘first’

Proto-Indo-European *kap-

Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti ‘to be grasping’

Proto-Italic *kapjō ‘to take, seize’

Archaic Latin kapiō

Latin capiō ‘seize, take’

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Today it means

noun A (male) ruler, a sovereign; a king, monarch.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “prince”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin prīnceps / prince