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The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
A historical region of north-central Europe including present-day northern Germany and Poland. Its ancient, Baltic-speaking inhabitants were conquered by the Teutonic Knights in the 1200s. West Prussia was ceded to Poland in 1466, and East Prussia became a Polish fief that passed to Brandenburg in 1618. Proclaimed a kingdom in 1701, Prussia became a military power under Frederick II (reigned 1740-1786). Prussia was instrumental in the unification of Germany, and in 1871 its king was declared Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany.
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.