Unruly Prefixes: Pre and Pro

Prefixes. Can’t live with ‘em, can’t communicate without ‘em. Can’t even say prefixes without ‘em. And we can see both how essential and how tricky they are by looking at the words prescribe and proscribe. First, though, some preliminaries.

Prefixes for Beginners

If you’re pursuing a career in proofreading, you probably know a thing or two about prefixes already. But if they’ve somehow passed you by, prefixes are the little bits at the beginnings of words that contribute to or change their meaning.

For instance, the pre- at the beginning of prefix indicates that something comes before something else. That’s that prefix’s job. And, generally, prefixes behave: they each have a clearly delineated meaning, which makes life easier for proofreaders.

Note, however, that I say they ‘generally’ behave. That means not always.

Sometimes, it’s not as easy as knowing that someone who’s unhappy is sad, or that a bicycle has two wheels. Sometimes prefixes rebel, showing up in words that seem to have no relation to their meanings as you know them. Let’s look at pre- and pro-, for example.

We know pre- indicates something that goes before something else, while pro- has a history of being used to indicate things that are forward, outward, in front of or in advance of (as well as indicating favour for something, e.g. pro-European, though this has only relatively recently been the case). This is why to precede is to come before something, while to proceed is to go forwards – a pair of words sometimes confused by writers but easily spotted by proofreaders

Prescribe and Proscribe

But what about prescribe and proscribe? These are words that might slip through the net, as they are so similar on paper. It may also be difficult to guess which the client means from the context of the document. But to leave the wrong word in or change it unnecessarily could cause them to say the exact opposite of what they mean. So remember:

• To prescribe is to advise something (usually in a medical context) or to set it as a rule.
• To proscribe something is to forbid or condemn it.

While the meaning of prescribe is fairly transparent (a prescription being something written before medicines may be bought), proscribe may be more confusing. It may even seem to fly in the face of logic, given that being pro-something means to favour it. To understand the use of these prefixes in these words, then, we have to delve deeper into their etymology.

Prescribe comes from the Latin praescribere, meaning, literally, to write before. However, this was extended to mean to rule or write something in advance.

Proscribe also comes from Latin, but the progression of its meaning is less clear. The Latin proscribere has a literal meaning of writing something in front of something else. It thus used to mean publish in writing, and this was later applied to a Writ of Outlawry, in which a court would publish a ruling outlawing or condemning something before the world. And this, indirectly, lead to the sense of proscription we have today.

This is quite a confusing history, though. So maybe, on balance, it’s better just to learn the modern meanings of prescribe and proscribe and keep an eye out for them. And, as always, if you’re not sure which one the client means, leave a comment.

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