prodigious
Part of speech: adj
Morphological type: derivation
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-der.
Proto-Indo-European *h₁ǵyéti
Proto-Italic *agjō
Latin aiō
Proto-Indo-European *-yós
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 *-ōtsos or *-otsos
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
Base: prodigy
Affixes: -ous
Inflected forms:
form: more prodigious
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most prodigious
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: Extraordinarily amazing.
pos: adj
examples: VVhat am I? Old! or a Monſter! Is it ſo prodigious, that a Man ſhou'd like me?
Prodigious! […] VVhat in the Name of VVonder hath brought you to England?
Prodigious! hovv the Things Proteſt, Proteſt: / Peace, Fools! or Gonſon vvill for Papiſts ſeize you, / If once he catch you at your Jeſu! Jeſu!
'[T]is a marvel of marvels that this man should be a mighty King and ready for war, after his slaughter of all the wise men of his kingdom and his counsellors and the captains of his host and that his realm should be populous and prosper after this and there should issue therefrom this prodigious power!
A prodigious quantity of insects of all sorts (but no mosquitoes) assailed us at our evening meal.
gloss: Extraordinarily amazing.
pos: adj
examples: 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: […]
[…] 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.
gloss: Extraordinarily amazing.
pos: adj
examples: [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].
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, […]
[T]hrough many a dark and drearie Vaile / They paſs'd, and many a Region dolorous, / […] / VVhere all life dies, death lives, and nature breeds, / Perverſe, all monſtrous, all prodigious things, […]
[T]he good Dominie bore all his disasters with gravity and serenity equally imperturbable. "Prodi-gi-ous!" was the only ejaculation they ever extorted from the much-enduring man.
Horrible things have been in this wild world, / Prodigious mixtures, and confusions strange / Of good and ill; and worse have been conceived / Than ever there was found a heart to do.
gloss: Very big in extent, quantity, or size; abundant; intense; colossal, huge.
pos: adj
examples: [T]he figges […] are a fruit for a king, anſvverable to the mightie, huge, and prodigious tree that beareth it.
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.
VVHEN John firſt brought out the Bills, the Surprize of all the Family vvas unexpreſſible, at the prodigious Dimenſions of them; […]
[I]t [a penis] vvas poſitively of ſo tremendous a ſize, […] you might have troll'd dice ſecurely along the broad back of the body of it: the length of it too vvas prodigious; […]
[T]hey were not the spoiled children of affectation and refinement, but a bold, vigorous, independent race of thinkers, with prodigious strength and energy, with none but natural grace, and heartfelt unobtrusive delicacy.
gloss: Having the nature of an omen or portent; ominous, portentous.
pos: adj
tags: archaic
obsolete
examples: [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.
[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.
Related words: prodigy
Derived words: prodigiously
prodigiousness
Translations:
lang: Armenian
word: զարմանալի
roman: zarmanali
lang: Bulgarian
word: изумителен
roman: izumitelen
lang: Bulgarian
word: удивителен
roman: udivitelen
lang: Catalan
word: prodigiós
lang: Dutch
word: verbazingwekkend
lang: Estonian
word: hämmastav
lang: Finnish
word: ällistyttävä
lang: Finnish
word: hämmästyttävä
lang: French
word: prodigieux
lang: German
word: verwunderlich
lang: Hungarian
word: bámulatos
lang: Hungarian
word: csodálatos
lang: Hungarian
word: páratlan
lang: Hungarian
word: tüneményes
lang: Icelandic
word: stórkostlegur
lang: Italian
word: prodigioso
lang: Latvian
word: apbrīnojams
lang: Macedonian
word: чу́десен
roman: čúdesen
lang: Macedonian
word: неверо́јатен
roman: neverójaten
lang: Norwegian
word: fenomenal
lang: Occitan
word: prodigiós
lang: Portuguese
word: prodigioso
lang: Russian
word: изуми́тельный
roman: izumítelʹnyj
lang: Russian
word: порази́тельный
roman: porazítelʹnyj
lang: Russian
word: удиви́тельный
roman: udivítelʹnyj
lang: Russian
word: умопомрачи́тельный
roman: umopomračítelʹnyj
lang: Slovak
word: podivuhodný
lang: Spanish
word: prodigioso
lang: Swedish
word: häpnadsväckande
lang: Turkish
word: hayret verici
lang: Turkish
word: şaşırtıcı