The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.1808  Tuesday, 1 November 2005

From: 		Abigail Quart <
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Date: 		Friday, 28 Oct 2005 13:40:59 -0400
Subject: 	Prenzie Angelo

I'm reading about Libby's indictment and all of a sudden there's this:

http://www.dailykos.com/

The word prison can be traced back to the Latin word prensio, "the 
action or power of making an arrest."  This in turn is derived from the 
verb prehendere or prendere, which meant "to take hold of, take into 
custody, arrest." Prensio then surfaces in the Old French of the 12th 
century with the form prison and the senses "capture" and "place of 
imprisonment."  This new sense could have already been developed in 
Latin and not been recorded, but we have to wait until the 12th century 
to see it, the sense "captivity" being added in the same century.  From 
Old French as well as the Medieval Latin word priso, "prison," derived 
from Old French, came our Middle English word prisoun, first recorded in 
a work written before 1121 in the sense "imprisonment."  The sense 
"place of imprisonment" is recorded shortly afterward in a text copied 
down before 1225 but perhaps actually written in the Old English period 
before the Norman Conquest.

Is that what "prenzie" means? Jailer Angelo?

(Forgive me if this avenue of explanation has already been covered. I 
was startled.)

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