prison

英文词源

prison

prison: [12] Like comprehend, prehensile, etc, prison goes back ultimately to Latin praehendere ‘seize’. From this was derived the noun praehensiō ‘seizure’, later contracted to prēnsiō, which passed into Old French as prisun. By now it had come to be used specifically for ‘imprisonment’, and from this it moved on in due course to the concrete ‘place of imprisonment’ – both senses which entered English from Old French in the 12th century.
=> apprehend, comprehensive, prehensile, prize, reprehensible

prison (n.)

early 12c., from Old French prisoun "captivity, imprisonment; prison; prisoner, captive" (11c., Modern French prison), altered (by influence of pris "taken;" see prize (n.2)) from earlier preson, from Vulgar Latin *presionem, from Latin prensionem (nominative prensio), shortening of prehensionem (nominative *prehensio) "a taking," noun of action from past participle stem of prehendere "to take" (see prehensile). "Captivity," hence by extension "a place for captives," the main modern sense.

prison (v.)

"to imprison," early 14c., from prison (n.) or Old French prisoner (v.). Related: Prisoned; prisoning.