Etymograph

English

prologue

Prologue comes from Latin prologus ‘a preface to a play’, from Ancient Greek λόγος ‘speech’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to collect (words)’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-1‘to collect (words)’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*lógos1reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEλόγος2‘speech’
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπρόλογος3prólogos‘the prologue of a play’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprologus3‘a preface to a play’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400prologue3
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prologue3
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602prologue3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek λόγος
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek πρόλογος
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English prologue
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet: “[…]harbindgers preceading ſtill the fates and prologue to the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek λόγος‘to collect (words)’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*lógosWiktionary, Ancient Greek λόγοςreconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEλόγοςWiktionary, Ancient Greek πρόλογος‘speech’
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπρόλογοςWiktionary, English prologueprólogos‘the prologue of a play’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprologusWiktionary, English prologue‘a preface to a play’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400prologueWiktionary, English prologue
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prologueWiktionary, English prologue
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602prologueWiktionary, English prologue. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet: “[…]harbindgers preceading ſtill the fates and prologue to the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to collect (words)’

election, collection, technology, lesson, select, elite, eligible, collect, elect, elegant, legion, coil, negligence, negligible, negligent, catalogue, leach, diligent, lexicon, lexical, cull, astrology, dialectic, legation, alexia, cosmology, lignite, lexis, lignin, epilogue, gynecologist, ineligibility, dialogic, 149 more

through Proto-Hellenic *lógos

archaeological, pathological, etymology, homologous, pathophysiology, astrological, psychopathology, neurophysiology, histopathology, bacteriological, 101 more

through Ancient Greek λόγος ‘speech’

logic, apology, trilogy, analogy, sociology, terminology, physiology, logos, pathology, logistic, archaeologist, pathologist, eulogy, epistemology, monologue, entomology, etiology, bacteriology, apologia, syllogism, bacteriologist, 110 more

Today it means

noun A speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “prologue”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Ancient Greek λόγος, Ancient Greek πρόλογος. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- / prologue

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