NODE / 0475attestedMiddle English

prolog

an introduction or prefatory speech

DATE: Middle English, 14th century
SENSE: introductory speech
FAMILY: Indo-European / West Germanic
CANONICAL KEY: node:2:prolog:attested:sense:introductory-speech

ANCESTRAL EDGES

ROOT OF THIS ROOT

GO DEEPERborrowingestablished

Anglo-French · Anglo-French period · introductory speech

prologue

a prologue or prefatory discourse

SOUND: Middle English prolog adopts Anglo-French prologue with English spelling adaptation.
MEANING: The prefatory discourse meaning remains stable.
SCHOLAR: Merriam-Webster editors
CONFIDENCE: established

Prologue — Definition, Word History, and First Known UsesupportsEtymology: Middle English from Anglo-French

Documents the medieval French transmission.

ORIGINAL ↗

OPEN CANONICAL EDGE 441 ↗

DIRECT DESCENDANT EDGES

THE NEXT HISTORICAL STEP

DESCENDANThistorical continuationestablished

Present-Day English · 14th century–today · introductory speech

prologue

an introductory speech, section, or preceding event

SOUND: Middle English prolog develops the modern -ue spelling while retaining the initial pro- and final log sequence.
MEANING: The prefatory speech becomes any introductory section and later any preceding event.
CHRONOLOGY: English evidence begins in the fourteenth century.
SCHOLAR: Merriam-Webster · Etymonline editors
CONFIDENCE: established

Prologue — Definition, Word History, and First Known UsesupportsWord History and First Known Use

Documents the Middle English form and fourteenth-century horizon.

ORIGINAL ↗

Prologue — Origin and historysupportsHeadword chronology and semantic development

Dates English prologe to the early fourteenth century and the figurative extension to the 1590s.

ORIGINAL ↗

OPEN CANONICAL EDGE 440 ↗

TRANSITIVE DESCENDANT CLOSURE

EVERY REVIEWED BRANCH FROM HERE

This is the complete downstream closure currently supported by the canonical graph. Every displayed step is a real reviewed edge with its own sound claim, meaning claim, scholar, confidence, and citations.

UNIQUE DESCENDANT NODES: 1
REVIEWED EDGES: 1
DEEPEST PATH: 1
MODERN DOSSIERS REACHED: 1

prologue1 connected node

HISTORICAL STEP 011 EDGE

STEP 01historical continuationestablished

Middle Englishprolog→Present-Day English · 14th century–todayprologuean introductory speech, section, or preceding event

SOUND: Middle English prolog develops the modern -ue spelling while retaining the initial pro- and final log sequence.
MEANING: The prefatory speech becomes any introductory section and later any preceding event.

Merriam-Webster · Etymonline editors2 CITATIONSEDGE 440 ↗

Prologue — Definition, Word History, and First Known Use · Word History and First Known Use ↗Prologue — Origin and history · Headword chronology and semantic development ↗

“Every” means every descendant in the reviewed SET-U graph. It does not convert missing scholarship or missing ingestion into a claim of historical completeness. The coverage ledger remains the honest denominator.

RECORDED EVIDENCE

ATTESTATIONS / FIRST KNOWN USE

NO RECORDED WITNESS ATTACHED.

The reviewed graph does not yet attach a source-reported or directly inspected witness to this canonical form.

EDITORIAL REUSE

WORD DOSSIERS USING THIS NODE

02prologueprolog · established