Pronto comes from Spanish pronto ('quick, soon'), from Latin promptus ('ready, prompt'), past participle of promere ('to bring out'). The historical chain includes Spanish pronto, Latin promptus, and Latin emere. The quoted older senses, "quick, soon", "ready, prompt", and "to bring out", supply the semantic anchors for pronto. The formation is best read as participial and borrowed: the word pronto carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adv, "promptly; without delay". Related English forms include prompt and prontosil. The result is a adv whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.