Is the word prose a derivative of versare?

Answer 1

The word "prose" comes from the Latin word prorsa, meaning direct, or everyday, speech. Our word "prosaic," meaning common or dull, comes from the same root. To the Romans, prose indicated ordinary speech or writing, without rhyme or meter. Of course, today we consider novelists and short story writers as prose writers, and their writing is hopefully neither common nor dull.