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Origin and history of prayer

prayer(n.1)

c. 1300, preiere, "earnest request, entreaty, petition," also "the practice of praying or of communing with God," from Old French prier "prayer, petition, request" (12c., Modern French prière), from Medieval Latin precaria "petition, prayer," noun use of Latin adjective precaria, fem. of precarius "obtained by prayer, given as a favor," from precari "to ask, beg, pray" (from PIE root *prek- "to ask, entreat").

From mid-14c. as "devout petition to God or a god or other object of worship;" also "the Lord's Prayer;" also "action or practice of praying." Related: Prayers. Prayer-book "book of forms for public or private devotions" is attested from 1590s; prayer-meeting "service devoted to prayer, sacred song, and other religious exercises" is from 1780. Prayer-rug "small carpet spread and used by a Muslim when engaged in devotions" is by 1898 (prayer-carpet is by 1861). To not have a prayer "have no chance" is from 1941.

prayer(n.2)

"one who offers prayers," late 14c., agent noun from pray (v.).

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to prayer

pray(v.)

early 13c., preien, "ask earnestly, beg (someone)," also (c. 1300) in a religious sense, "pray to a god or saint," from Old French preier "to pray" (c. 900, Modern French prier), from Vulgar Latin *precare (also source of Italian pregare), from Latin precari "ask earnestly, beg, entreat," from *prex (plural preces, genitive precis) "prayer, request, entreaty," from PIE root *prek- "to ask, request, entreat."

From early 14c. as "to invite." The deferential parenthetical expression I pray you, "please, if you will," attested from late 14c. (from c. 1300 as I pray thee), was contracted to pray in 16c. Related: Prayed; praying.

Praying mantis attested from 1809 (praying locust is from 1752; praying insect by 1816; see mantis). The Gardener's Monthly of July 1861 lists other names for it as camel cricket, soothsayer, and rear horse.

prayerful(adj.)

"praying much, devout," 1620s, from prayer + -ful. Related: Prayerfully; prayerfulness.

*prek-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to ask, entreat." 

It might form all or part of: deprecate; deprecation; expostulate; imprecate; imprecation; postulate; pray; prayer; precarious; precatory; prithee.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit prasna-, Avestan frashna- "question;" Sanskrit prcchati, Avestan peresaiti "interrogates;" Latin precari "ask earnestly, beg, entreat;" Old Church Slavonic prositi, Lithuanian prašyti "to ask, beg;" Old High German frahen, German fragen, Old English fricgan "to ask" a question.

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    Trends of prayer

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    appeal
    early 14c., appelen, originally in the legal sense, to "call" to a higher judge or court, from Anglo-French apeler "to call upon, accuse," Old French apeler "make an appeal" (11c., Modern French appeler), from Latin appellare "to accost, address, appeal to, summon, name," iterati
    petition
    mid-14c., petiocioun, "a supplication or prayer," especially to a deity," from Anglo-French (early 14c.), from Old French peticion "request, petition" (12c., Modern French pétition) and directly from Latin petitionem (nominative petitio) "a blow, thrust, attack, aim; a seeking, s
    orison
    c. 1200, orisoun, "a prayer," especially "a set prayer that forms part of a religious service," from Anglo-French oreison, Old French oreisun (12c., Modern French oraison) "oration," from Latin orationem (nominative oratio) "speech, oration," in Church Latin "prayer, appeal to Go
    litany
    c. 1200, "solemn prayer of supplication," from Old French letanie (13c., Modern French litanie) and directly from Medieval...Latin letania, Late Latin litania (source also of Spanish letania, Italian litania), from Greek litaneia "prayer, an entreating...," from lite "prayer, supplication, entreaty," a word of unknown origin....From the notion of monotonous enumeration of petitions in Christian prayer services came the generalized sense of "repeated...
    deprecation
    c. 1500, deprecacioun, "prayer to avert evil, earnest desire for exemption or deliverance," from Old French deprecation and...directly from Latin deprecationem (nominative deprecatio) "a warding off or averting by prayer," noun of action from past-participle...stem of deprecari "plead in excuse; avert by prayer," literally "to pray (something) away," from de "away" (see de-) + precari...
    oration
    late 14c., oracioun, "a prayer," from Late Latin orationem (nominative oratio) "a speaking, speech, discourse; language,...faculty of speech, mode of expressing; prayer," noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin ōrare "to pray to, plead...
    primer
    late 14c., "prayer-book, layperson's devotional manual," also "school book" (senses not distinguished in Middle English,...as reading was taught from prayer books), from Medieval Latin primarium, from Latin primus "first" (see prime (adj.)), on...
    thanksgiving
    1530s, "the giving of thanks," from thanks (n.) + present participle of give (v.). Wycliffe (c. 1400) has doinge of thankes for "thanksgiving." In the specific sense of "public celebration acknowledging divine favors" thanksgiving dates from 1630s (the first one in America was he
    benediction
    "act of speaking well of or blessing; invocation of divine blessing," c. 1400, benediccioun, from Late Latin benedictionem (nominative benedictio), "a blessing," noun of action from benedicere (in classical Latin two words, bene dicere) "to speak well of, bless," from bene "well"
    suit
    c. 1300, sute, also suete, suite, seute, "a band of followers; a retinue, company;" also "set of matching garments" worn by such persons, "matching livery or uniform;" hence "kind, sort; the same kind, a match;" also "pursuit, chase," and in law, "obligation (of a tenant) to atte

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