prodigy

English

WOTD – 10 January 2011

Etymology

From Middle English prodige (“portent”), from Latin prōdigium (“omen, portent, prophetic sign”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒdɪd͡ʒi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑdɪd͡ʒi/
• Hyphenation: prod‧i‧gy

Noun

prodigy (plural prodigies)

1. An extraordinary occurrence or creature; an anomaly, especially a monster; a freak. [from 16th c.]
2. An amazing or marvellous thing; a wonder. [from 17th c.]
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XXXII, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 153:

     He is never chased; he would run away with rope-walks of line. Prodigies are told of him.

3. A wonderful example of something. [from 17th c.]
4. An extremely talented person, especially a child. [from 17th c.]
5. (archaic) An extraordinary thing seen as an omen; a portent. [from 15th c.]
   • 1717, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book XII”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume III, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:

     These on the farther bank now stood and gazed, / By Heaven alarm’d, by prodigies amazed: / A signal omen stopp’d the passing host, / Their martial fury in their wonder lost.

   • 1727, William Warburton, “Part I”, in A Critical and Philosophical Enquiry into the Causes of Prodigies and Miracles, as Related by Historians. […], London: […] Thomas Corbett, […], →OCLC, page 1:

     Prodigies and Portents have infected the beſt VVritings of Antiquity; and have ſo blotted and deformed our modern Annals, that (vvith greater Juſtice than Polybius has obſerv'd it, of the former) they may be rather called Tragedies than History.

   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 87:

     John Foxe believed that special prodigies had heralded the Reformation.

Synonyms

• (extremely talented person): wunderkind, girl wonder, girl-genius, boy-genius, boy wonder, child prodigy.

Coordinate terms

• (extremely talented person): idiot savant, savant

Translations

amazing or marvelous thing

Arabic: أُعْجُوبَة f (ʔuʕjūba) Bulgarian: чудо (bg) n (čudo) Catalan: prodigi (ca) m Czech: zázrak (cs) m Danish: vidunder Dutch: wonder (nl) n, mirakel (nl) n Finnish: ihme (fi) French: prodige (fr) m, prodigie f, miracle (fr) m, merveille (fr) f German: Wunder (de) n Hungarian: csoda (hu) Italian: prodigio (it) Japanese: 驚異 (ja) (kyōi) Latin: prōdigium n Maori: inati Ottoman Turkish: كرامت (keramet), معجزه (muʼcize), علامت (ʼalamet) Portuguese: prodígio (pt) m, maravilha (pt) f Russian: чудо (ru) n (čudo) Spanish: maravilla (es), prodigio (es), portento (es), cosa extraña, milagro (es) Swedish: under (sv) n, underverk (sv) n, vidunder (sv) n, mirakel (sv) n

wonderful example of something

Arabic: أُعْجُوبَة f (ʔuʕjūba) Bulgarian: феномен (bg) m (fenomen) Catalan: prodigi (ca) m Finnish: malliesimerkki Maori: inati Swedish: under (sv) n, underverk (sv) n Turkish: mucize (tr)

extremely talented person, especially a child

Arabic: نَابِغَة f (nābiḡa) Bulgarian: вундеркинд m (vunderkind) Catalan: prodigi (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 神童 (zh) (shéntóng) (of a child), 聖童 / 圣童 (zh) (shèngtóng), 資優兒童 / 资优儿童 (zīyōu értóng) Czech: zázračné dítě n (of a child), génius (cs) m Dutch: wonderkind (nl) n Finnish: ihmelapsi French: enfant prodige (fr) m (of a child), génie (fr), phénomène (fr) German: Wunderkind (de) n (chiefly of a child), Genie (de) n, Hochbegabter m, Naturtalent (de) n Hungarian: csodagyerek (hu) Italian: prodigio (it) m, fenomeno (it) m Japanese: 神童 (ja) (しんどう, shindō) (of a child) Maori: taniwha Norwegian: vidunderbarn n Portuguese: prodígio (pt) m Russian: вундерки́нд (ru) m (vunderkínd) (of a child), ге́ний (ru) m (génij) Spanish: prodigio (es) m, fenómeno (es), genio (es), niño prodigio Swedish: underbarn (sv) n Turkish: dâhi çocuk

extraordinary thing seen as an omen

Bulgarian: знамение (bg) n (znamenie) Catalan: prodigi (ca) m Czech: znamení (cs) n Finnish: enne (fi), ennusmerkki (fi) French: présage (fr), augure (fr), auspices (fr) German: Orakel (de) Italian: presagio (it) Japanese: 前兆 (ja) (zenchō) Latin: prodigium f Maori: inati Portuguese: presságio (pt) m Spanish: presagio (es), augurio (es), agüero (es), auspicio (es) Turkish: kâhin (tr)

See also

• precocious
• prodigal
• child prodigy
• prodigy house

References

• “prodigy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “prodigy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “prodigy”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Further reading

• prodigy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia