procurer

The word 'procurer' originates from the Latin verb 'procurare', meaning "to take care of, manage, or attend to," formed from 'pro-' (for, on behalf of) and 'curare' (to care). This sense of managing affairs evolved in Medieval Latin to specifically include the management of supplies or provisions for others. In Middle English, via Anglo-Norman French, it developed the dual meaning of one who obtains or acquires something, and, by the 16th century, the narrower and now primary legal and social meaning of one who obtains persons, specifically for prostitution. The morphemes thus trace a path from the literal idea of "caring for on behalf of" to the modern, often illicit, sense of an agent who secures and provides.

Structure: pro (forward/for) + cur (care/run) + er (agent suffix) pro (Latin prefix meaning "forward," "forth," or "for"); cur (from Latin root 'curare' meaning "to care for, attend to, manage"); er (English agent noun suffix, from Old English '-ere', indicating "one who does something").