pre-record v.

word-forming element meaning "before," from Old French pre- and Medieval Latin pre-, both from Latin prae (adverb and preposition) "before in time or place," from PIE *peri- (source also of Oscan prai, Umbrian pre, Sanskrit pare "thereupon," Greek parai "at," Gaulish are- "at, before," Lithuanian prie "at," Old Church Slavonic pri "at," Gothic faura, Old English fore "before"), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "beyond, in front of, before."

The Latin word was active in forming verbs. Also see prae-. Sometimes in Middle English muddled with words in pro- or per-.

c. 1200, recorden, "to repeat, reiterate, recite; rehearse, get by heart" (senses now obsolete), from Old French recorder "tell, relate, repeat, recite, report, make known" (12c.) and directly from Latin recordari "remember, call to mind, think over, be mindful of," from re-, here probably with a sense of "restore" (see re-), + cor (genitive cordis) "heart" (the metaphoric seat of memory, as in learn by heart), from PIE root *kerd- "heart."

The meaning "set down in writing, preserve the memory of by written or other characters, write down for the purpose of preserving evidence of" is by mid-14c. The sense of "put sound (later pictures, etc.) on disks, cylinders, tape, etc." is from 1892. Related: Recorded; recording.