Word: prodigious Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *pér Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *pró Proto-Indo-European *pro- Proto-Italic *pro- Latin prō- Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *h₁ǵyéti Proto-Italic *agjō Proto-Italic *ajjō Latin aiō Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ium Latin prōdigium Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.? Proto-Italic *-ŏ̄dsos? Old Latin -ōssus Latin -ōsus Latin prōdigiōsusbor. Middle English prodigious English prodigious The adjective is derived from Late Middle English prodigious (“warning of disaster, portentous”), from Latin prōdigiōsus (“strange, unnatural; marvellous, wonderful, prodigious”), from prōdigium (“prophetic sign, omen, portent; prodigy, wonder”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of’ forming adjectives from nouns). Prōdigium is derived from prō- (prefix denoting a forward direction, something before or prior, or prominence) + aiō (“to say, speak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵ- (“to say”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The English word is analysable as prodigy + -ous. The adverb is derived from the adjective. Cognates * Catalan prodigiós * Middle French prodigieux (“portentous”) (modern French prodigieux) * Italian prodigioso * Portuguese prodigioso * Spanish prodigioso Pronunciation: /pɹəˈdɪd͡ʒəs/, /pɹoʊ-/ 1. Extraordinarily amazing. Example: VVhat am I? Old! or a Monſter! Is it ſo prodigious, that a Man ſhou'd like me? Example: Prodigious! […] VVhat in the Name of VVonder hath brought you to England? 2. Extraordinarily amazing. Example: Iohn Ponce aforeſaid [i.e., Juan Ponce de León] hearing a rumour of a prodigious vvell, vvhich (as the Poets tell of Medea) vvould make olde men become young againe, plaid the yongling to goe ſearch it ſix monethes together, and in that inquirie diſcouers this Continent: […] Example: […] Lafayette Square itself, contiguous to the Executive Mansion, could create a rich sense of the past by the use of scarce other witchcraft than its command of that pleasant perspective and its possession of the most prodigious of all Presidential effigies, Andrew Jackson, as archaic as a Ninevite king, prancing and rocking through the ages. 3. Extraordinarily amazing. Example: [H]e [Thomas Arundell] by his euill counſaile and prodigious ſuggeſtions, craftilye circumuented the king, inducyng him to graunt his letters of pardon to a great traytour the Erle of Arondell his brother [Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl of Arundel]. Example: Cleanthes alleadged foure cauſes, which might induce man to acknowledge a God, […] the thirde by the terror that the minde of man is ſtroken into, by […] the prodigious ſhapes and vnnaturall formes of men, of beaſtes, of birdes, of fiſhes, of all creatures, […] 4. Very big in extent, quantity, or size; abundant; intense; colossal, huge. Example: [T]he figges […] are a fruit for a king, anſvverable to the mightie, huge, and prodigious tree that beareth it. Example: This Urſula is ſaid to have carried over out of Britain, eleven thouſand Maids of prime quality, beſides threeſcore thouſand of meaner rank, (ſeventy one thouſand in all, a prodigious number,) to be married to ſo many in little Britain in France. Prepoſterous in my mind, to proffer themſelves, and it had argued more modeſty if their Husbands had fetcht them hence. 5. Having the nature of an omen or portent; ominous, portentous. Labels: archaic, obsolete Example: [T]he blots of natures hand / Shall not in their iſſue ſtand. / Neuer mole, hare-lippe, nor ſcarre, / Nor marke prodigious, ſuch as are / Deſpiſed in natiuitie, / Shall vpon their children be. Example: [T]here happened a prodigious token to Denis tyrant of Sicilie [i.e., Dionysius I of Syracuse], vvhen hee vvas expelled and depoſed from that mightie ſtate of his, and this it vvas; The ſea vvater vvithin one day in the haven grevv to be freſh and ſvveet.