price

英文詞源

price

price: [13] The Latin word for ‘price’ was pretium (it was probably derived ultimately from the Indo-European preposition *preti ‘back’, and so etymologically denoted ‘recompense’). Its descendants have spread through most modern western European languages, including French prix, Italian prezzo, Spanish precio, German preis, and Dutch prijs.

The last two were borrowed from Old French pris, the ancestor of modern prix, as was English price. The word differentiated in the 16th century into price and prize; and derivatives of the Latin original have given English appreciate, depreciate [15], praise, and precious.
=> appraise, appreciate, depreciate, grand prix, praise, precious

price (n.)

c. 1200, pris "value, worth; praise," later "cost, recompense, prize" (mid-13c.), from Old French pris "price, value, wages, reward," also "honor, fame, praise, prize" (Modern French prix), from Late Latin precium, from Latin pretium "reward, prize, value, worth," from PIE *pret-yo-, from root *per- (5) "to traffic in, to sell" (cognates: Sanskrit aprata "without recompense, gratuitously;" Greek porne "prostitute," originally "bought, purchased," pernanai "to sell;" Lithuanian perku "I buy").

Praise, price, and prize began to diverge in Old French, with praise emerging in Middle English by early 14c. and prize being evident by late 1500s with the rise of the -z- spelling. Having shed the extra Old French and Middle English senses, the word now again has the base sense of the Latin original. To set (or put) a price on someone, "offer a reward for capture" is from 1766.

price (v.)

"to set the price of," late 14c., from price (n.) or from Old French prisier, variant of preisier "to value, estimate; to praise." Related: Priced; pricing.