proscenium

English

Alternative forms

• proscænium

Etymology

From Latin proscaenium (“in front of the scenery”), from Ancient Greek προσκήνιον (proskḗnion), from πρό (pró, “before”) + σκηνή (skēnḗ, “scene building”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹəʊˈsiː.ni.əm/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /pɹoʊˈsiː.ni.əm/

Noun

proscenium (plural prosceniums or proscenia)

1. (in a modern theater) The stage area between the curtain and the orchestra.
   • 2023 June 15, Manohla Dargis, “‘Asteroid City’ Review: Our Town and Country”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     It looks like a film, a meticulous, detailed, visually balanced wide-screen Wes Anderson one. There’s no proscenium, no stage, no wings, no audience.

2. (in an ancient theater) The stage area immediately in front of the scene building.
3. (in an ancient theater) The row of columns at the front the scene building, at first directly behind the circular orchestra but later upon a stage.
   • 1936, Roy C. Flickinger, The Greek Theater and Its Drama, 4th edition, page 58:

     The front of the scene-building and of the parascenia came to be decorated with a row of columns, the proscenium (πρό, "before"+σκηνή).

4. A proscenium arch.
   • 1979, J.G. Ballard, The Unlimited Dream Company, chapter 19:

     Screamers trumpeted from the roof of the supermarket, white storks rattled their bills as their surveyed the town from the proscenium of the filling-station.

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Translations

Danish

Noun

proscenium n (singular definite prosceniet, plural indefinite proscenier)

1. proscenium

Inflection

French

Noun

proscenium m (plural prosceniums)

1. proscenium

Further reading

• “proscenium”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Latin

Alternative forms

• proscaenium

Etymology

From Ancient Greek προσκήνιον (proskḗnion), from πρό (pró, “before”) + σκηνή (skēnḗ, “scene building”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /prosˈkeː.ni.um/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /proʃˈʃe.ni.um/,

Noun

proscēnium n (genitive proscēniī or proscēnī); second declension

1. proscenium

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Descendants

• → Catalan: prosceni (learned)
• → English: proscenium
• French: proscénium
• Italian: proscenio

References

• “proscenium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• proscenium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin proscenium or French proscenium.

Noun

proscenium n (plural prosceniumuri)

1. proscenium

Declension