Etymograph

English

prophases

Prophases comes from Ancient Greek πρόφασις ‘pretense, pretext, excuse’, and goes back to προφαίνω.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπροφαίνω1
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπρόφασις2próphasis‘pretense, pretext, excuse’
  3. Englishtodayprophases2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek πρόφασις
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English prophases

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπροφαίνωWiktionary, Ancient Greek πρόφασις
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπρόφασιςWiktionary, English prophasespróphasis‘pretense, pretext, excuse’
  3. EnglishtodayprophasesWiktionary, English prophases

The story

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.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Ancient Greek προφαίνω

Today it means

noun The actual reasons for going to war. These may differ from proschemata, the pretexts offered to the public.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “prophases”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek πρόφασις. 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 / Ancient Greek προφαίνω / prophases

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