Etymograph

English

prostrate

Prostrate comes from Latin prōstrātus ‘prostrated’, from sternō ‘to spread, stretch out, spread out’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sterh₃-1‘to spread, extend, stretch out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*str̥néh₃ti1‘to strew’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*stornō1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsternō1‘to spread, stretch out, spread out’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōsternō2‘to prostrate’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōstrātus2‘prostrated’perfect passive participle of prōsternō
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prostrat(e)2
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1667prostrate2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin prosterno
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English prostrate
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book IX: “Prostrate fall / Before him reverent, and there confess…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sterh₃-Wiktionary, Latin prosterno‘to spread, extend, stretch out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*str̥néh₃tiWiktionary, Latin prosterno‘to strew’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*stornōWiktionary, Latin prosternoreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsternōWiktionary, Latin prosterno‘to spread, stretch out, spread out’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōsternōWiktionary, English prostrate‘to prostrate’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōstrātusWiktionary, English prostrate‘prostrated’perfect passive participle of prōsternō
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prostrat(e)Wiktionary, English prostrate
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1667prostrateWiktionary, English prostrate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book IX: “Prostrate fall / Before him reverent, and there confess…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- ‘to spread, extend, stretch out’

street, straw, strand, sternum, stratus, stroma, substratum, 9 more

through Latin sternō ‘to spread, stretch out, spread out’

stratum, 2 more

Another origin of prostrate

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōstrātus‘prostrated’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prostrat‘prostrate, prostrated’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prostraten‘(reflexive) to prostrate’
  4. Englishtodayprostrate

Today it means

adj Lying flat, face-down.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “prostrate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin prosterno. 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 *sterh₃- / prostrate

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