"NIST" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... whatever to any of those meanings, and almost certainly owes them to the mistaking of the first syllable (representing Greek [Greek: pr[^o]tos] "first") for [Greek: pro] "on behalf of"—a mistake made easy by the accidental resemblance to antagonist. "Accidental", since the Greek [Greek: ag[^o]nist[^e]s] has different meanings in the two words, in one "combatant", but in the other "play-actor". The Greek [Greek: pr[^o]tag[^o]nist[^e]s] means the actor who takes the chief part in a play—a sense readily admitting ...
— Society for Pure English Tract 4 - The Pronunciation of English Words Derived from the Latin • John Sargeaunt |
