[‘ An introductory discourse at the beginning of a piece of writing; a preface, preamble.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈprəʊɛm/, U.S. /ˈproʊˌɛm/
Forms: lME *prochem*, lME *procheyn* transmission error, lME *proheim*, lME *proheime*, lME *proym*, lME–15 *proheme*, 15 *proëme*, 15–16 *prooeme*, 15–18 *proeme*, 15– *proem*, 16–17 *proëm*, 16–18 *prooem*; also /Sc./ pre-17 *proaeme*, pre-17 *proheym*.
Etymology: < Middle French /proeme/, proheme (a/1310 in Old French; French /proème) and its etymon classical Latin /prooemium/ (also prohoemium, prohēmium) prooemium n. Compare earlier proemy n. Compare also prooemium n.
*1.* An introductory discourse at the beginning of a piece of writing; a preface, preamble.
c/1410 (▸c1395) Chaucer /Clerk’s Tale/ (Harl. 7334) (1885) 43 He first..enditith..A proheme [/c/1405 /Hengwrt prohemie; v.rr. prochem, proheime, procheyn] in the which descriuith he The mound [/v.r./ Pemonde] and of Saluces þe contre.
c/1450 (▸?c1425) /St. Mary of Oignies/ Prol., in /Anglia/ (1885) *8* 134 (/MED), James..wrote..a longe proheme in to þe lyfe þat heere folowiþ.
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus /Apophthegmes/ f. 64, As testifieth Cicero in the proheme of the offices.
1594 R. Carew tr. J. Huarte /Exam. Mens Wits/ ix. 123 That doctrine of S. Hierome, which is found in his proem vpon Esay and Hierimie.
1602 J. Clapham /Hist. Eng./ sig. A3, The Proems of Historical Bookes are already filled with discourses of the profitable use that may be made of them.
1655 T. Stanley /Hist. Philos./ I. iii. 108 Seven Books; each of which..hath a Proœm, the whole none.
1739 Swift /Verses on Death Dr. Swift: Nov. 1731/ 4 Thus much may serve by way of Proem; Proceed we therefore to our Poem.
1765 W. Blackstone /Comm. Laws Eng./ I. Introd. ii. 60 The proeme, or preamble, is often called in to help the construction of an act of parliament.
1834 T. Carlyle /Sartor Resartus/ iii. iii. 78/2 By way of proem, take the following not injudicious remarks.
1882 F. W. Farrar /Early Days Christianity/ II. 404 The proœm of the Gospel declared that ‘the Word became flesh’.
1901 G. W. Cooke /Guide-bk. Wks. Browning/ 18 The introduction or proem to The Two Poets of Croisic was printed in the second series of Selections made from his poems by Browning.
1968 J. A. W. Bennett /Chaucer’s Bk. of Fame/ ii. 86 If at this point we recall the tone of the Proem and Invocation we realize that it was part of a deliberate yet subtle preparative for this world of humanized natural phenomena.
1991 /Classical Q./ New Ser. *41* 414 Virgil’s two proems also contain verbal and thematic echoes of the Lucretian passages.
*2.* A prefatory part of a speech; preliminary remarks; an exordium. Now rare.
1532 L. Cox /Art or Crafte Rhetoryke/ sig. B.iiii, Tullie..in the oracion..begynneth hys proeme thus.
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus /Paraphr. Newe Test./ I. Mark x. 70 With this proheme Jesus discouraged the yong man.
1667 Milton /Paradise Lost/ ix. 549 So gloz’d the Tempter, and his Proem tun’d.
1706 E. Ward /Hudibras Redivivus/ II. i. 6 Thus a Lecture does he give Upon his Pill diminitive, Speaking his Merits in the Proem, That’s Audience might the better know him.
1748 J. Geddes /Ess. Composition Antients/ 84 The proem is the first part of an oration.
1762 S. Fielding tr. Xenophon /Mem. Socrates/ iv. ii. 255, I should suppose too, that the Proem to his Speech, if he begins with letting them know that he hath never received any Instruction, must have something in it not unpleasant.
1865 G. Grote /Plato/ I. iii. 130 (note), He sometimes..opened the debate by a proœm or prefatory address in his own person.
1940 /Classical Q./ *34* 66 A canon of the parts of the judicial speech. This canon comprises typically four parts, proem, narrative, demonstration, and epilogue.
*3.* In extended use and fig. A commencement, beginning, prelude.
1598 J. Florio /Worlde of Wordes/ 290/3 /Preludio/, a proheme in musicke.
1607 G. Markham /Eng. Arcadia/ i. f. 22, Madam, I protest this bloodie beginning was no intended Proem of my seruice.
1660 S. Pordage tr. Seneca /Troades/ ii. i. 9 The Thessalian Prince..did Thracian armes annoy, The Proem to thy fatall fall O Troy!
/a/1664 M. Frank /LI Serm./ (1672) 216 These yet are but the Proems of his mercy.
1788 H. Walpole /Reminisc./ in /Lett./ (1857) I. p. xcii, The reign of George I was little more than the proem to the history of England under the House of Brunswick.
1874 H. R. Reynolds /John the Baptist/ ii. 67 It then becomes part of a record which..does not shrink from the supernatural, the proem of a unique life.
1929 /Times/ 25 Apr. 15/3 Was the quotation..intended as a graceful proem to the half-year’s holiday which M. Bartel will be spending under an Italian sun?
1994 /Buffalo (N.Y.) News/ (Nexis) 10 July 7 Though ‘The Golden Ocean’ is complete in itself, one might think of it as a proem, an overture to the full symphony of the later cycle.