Why did historical linguists impute propitius to PIE *per-¹? What semantic notions underlie them? All boldenings are mine.

propitiation (n.)

late 14c., propiciacioun, "atonement, expiation," from Late Latin propitiationem (nominative propitiatio) "an atonement," noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin propitiare "appease, propitiate," from propitius "favorable, gracious, kind, well-disposed." The current explanation of this (as of de Vaan) is that it represents *propre-tio-, from PIE *propro "on and on, ever further" (source also of Sanskrit pra-pra "on and on," Greek pro-pro "before, on and on"), from root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, toward, near." It is thus related to Latin prope "near."

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