The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown (read books for money TXT) 📖

a preposition for about or around, is from the noun or adjective round.

45. SINCE is most probably a contraction of the old word Sithence; but is conjectured by Tooke to have been formed from the phrase, "Seen as."

46. THROUGH [, Sax. Thurh, or Thurch,] seems related to Thorough, Sax. Thuruh; and this again to Thuru, or Duru, a Door.

47. THROUGHOUT, quite through, is an obvious compond of through and out.

48. TILL, [Sax. Til or Tille,] to, until, is from the Saxon Til or Till, an end, a station.

49. TO, whether a preposition or an adverb, is from the Anglo-Saxon particle To.

50. TOUCHING, with regard to, is from the first participle of the verb touch.

51. TOWARD or TOWARDS, written by the Anglo-Saxons Toweard or Toweardes, is a compound of To and Ward or Weard, a guard, a look-out; "Used in composition to express situation or direction."—Bosworth.

52. UNDER, [Gothic, Undar; Dutch, Onder,] beneath, below, is a common Anglo-Saxon word, and very frequent prefix, affirmed by Tooke to be "nothing but on-neder," a Dutch compound = on lower.—See Diversions of Purley, Vol. i, p. 331.

53. UNDERNEATH is a compound of under and neath, low; whence nether, lower.

54. UNTIL is a compound from on or un, and till, or til, the end.

55. UNTO, now somewhat antiquated, is formed, not very analogically, from un and to.

56. UP is from the Anglo-Saxon adjective, "Up or Upp, high, lofty."

57. UPON, which appears literally to mean high on, is from two words up and on.

58. WITH comes to us from the Anglo-Saxon With, a word of like sort and import; which Tooke says is an imperative verb, sometimes from "Withan, to join," and sometimes from "Wyrthan, to be."—See his Diversions, Vol. i, p. 262.

59. WITHIN [, i.e., by-in,] is from with and in: Sax. Withinnan, Binnan, or Binnon.

60. WITHOUT [, i.e., by-out,] is from with and out: Sax. Withútan, -úten, -úton; Bútan, Búton, Bútun.

OBSERVATION.

In regard to some of our minor or simpler prepositions, as of sundry other particles, to go beyond the forms and constructions which present or former usage has at some period given them as particles, and to ascertain their actual origin in something ulterior, if such they had, is no very easy matter; nor can there be either satisfaction or profit in studying what one suspects to be mere guesswork. "How do you account for IN, OUT, ON, OFF, and AT?" says the friend of Tooke, in an etymological dialogue at Purley. The substance of his answer is, "The explanation and etymology of these words require a degree of knowledge in all the antient northern languages, and a skill in the application of that knowledge, which I am very far from assuming; and though I am almost persuaded by some of my own conjectures concerning them, I am not willing, by an apparently forced and far-fetched derivation, to justify your imputation of etymological legerdemain."—Diversions, Vol. i, p. 370.

SECTION X.—DERIVATION OF INTERJECTIONS.

Those significant and constructive words which are occasionally used as Interjections, (such as Good! Strange! Indeed!,) do not require an explanation here; and those mere sounds which are in no wise expressive of thought, scarcely admit of definition or derivation. The Interjection HEY is probably a corruption of the adjective High;—ALAS is from the French Hélas:—ALACK is probably a corruption of Alas;—WELAWAY or WELLAWAY, (which is now corrupted into WELLADAY,) is said by some to be from the Anglo-Saxon Wá-lá-wá, i.e., Wo-lo-wo;—"FIE," says Tooke, "is the imperative of the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon verb Fian, to hate;"—Heyday is probably from high day;—AVAUNT, perhaps from the French avant, before;—LO, from look;—BEGONE, from be and gone;—WELCOME, from well and come;—FAREWELL, from fare and well.

SECTION XI—EXPLANATION OF THE PREFIXES.

In the formation of English words, certain particles are often employed as prefixes; which, as they generally have some peculiar import, may be separately explained. A few of them are of Anglo-Saxon origin, or character; and the greater part of these are still employed as separate words in our language. The rest are Latin, Greek, or French prepositions. The roots to which they are prefixed, are not always proper English words. Those which are such, are called SEPARABLE RADICALS; those which are not such, INSEPARABLE RADICALS.

CLASS I—THE ENGLISH OR ANGLO-SAXON PREFIXES.

1. A, as an English prefix, signifies on, in, at, or to: as in a-board, a-shore, a-foot, a-bed, a-soak, a-tilt, a-slant, a-far, a-field; which are equal to the phrases, on board, on shore, on foot, in bed, in soak, at tilt, at slant, to a distance, to the fields. The French à, to, is probably the same particle. This prefix is sometimes redundant, adding little or nothing to the meaning; as in awake, arise, amend.

2. BE, as a prefix, signifies upon, over, by, to, at, or for: as in be-spatter, be-cloud, be-times, be-tide, be-howl, be-speak. It is sometimes redundant, or merely intensive; as in be-gird, be-deck, be-loved, be-dazzle, be-moisten, be-praise, be-quote.

3. COUNTER, an English prefix, allied to the French Contre, and the Latin Contra, means against, or opposite; as in counter-poise, counter-evidence, counter-natural.

4. FOR, as a prefix, unlike the common preposition For, seems generally to signify from: it is found in the irregular verbs for-bear, for-bid, for-get, for-give, for-sake, for-swear; and in for-bathe, for-do, for-pass, for-pine, for-say, for-think, for-waste, which last are now disused, the for in several being merely intensive.

5. FORE, prefixed to a verb, signifies before; as in fore-know, fore-tell: prefixed to a noun, it is usually an adjective, and signifies anterior; as in fore-side, fore-part.

6. HALF, signifying one of two equal parts, is much used in composition; and, often, merely to denote imperfection: as, half-sighted, seeing imperfectly.

7. MIS signifies wrong or ill; as in mis-cite, mis-print, mis-spell, mis-chance, mis-hap.

8. OVER denotes superiority or excess; as in over-power, over-strain, over-large.

9. OUT, prefixed to a verb, generally denotes excess; as in out-do, out-leap, out-poise: prefixed to a noun, it is an adjective, and signifies exterior; as in out-side, out-parish.

10. SELF generally signifies one's own person, or belonging to one's own person; but, in self-same, it means very. We have many words beginning with Self, but most of them seem to be compounds rather than derivatives; as, self-love, self-abasement, self-abuse, self-affairs, self-willed, self-accusing.

11. UN denotes negation or contrariety; as in un-kind, un-load, un-truth, un-coif.

12. UNDER denotes inferiority; as in under-value, under-clerk, under-growth.

13. UP denotes motion upwards; as in up-lift: sometimes subversion; as in up-set.

14. WITH, as a prefix, unlike the common preposition With, signifies against, from, or back; as in with-stand, with-hold, with-draw, with-stander, with-holdment, with-drawal.

CLASS II.—THE LATIN PREFIXES.

The primitives or radicals to which these are prefixed, are not many of them employed separately in English. The final letter of the prefix Ad, Con, Ex, In, Ob, or Sub, is often changed before certain consonants; not capriciously, but with uniformity, to adapt or assimilate it to the sound which follows.

1. A, AB, or ABS, means From, or Away: as, a-vert, to turn from, or away; ab-duce, to lead from; ab-duction, a carrying-away; ab-stract, to draw from, or away.

2. AD,—forming ac, af, al, an, ap, as, at,—means To, or At: as, ad-vert, to turn to; ac-cord, to yield to; af-flux, a flowing-to; al-ly, to bind to; an-nex, to link to; ap-ply, to put to; as-sume, to take to; at-test, to witness to; ad-mire, to wonder at.

3. ANTE means Fore, or Before: as, ante-past, a fore-taste; ante-cedent, foregoing, or going before; ante-mundane, before the world; ante-date, to date before.

4. CIRCUM means Round, Around, or About: as circum-volve, to roll round; circum-scribe, to write round; circum-vent, to come round; circum-spect, looking about one's self.

5. CON,—which forms com, co, col, cor,—means Together: as, con-tract, to draw together; compel, to drive together; co-erce, to force together; col-lect, to gather together; cor-rade, to rub or scrape together; con-junction, a joining-together.

6. CONTRA, or CONTRO, means Against, or Counter: as, contra-dict, to speak against; contra-vene, to come against; contra-mure, countermure; contro-vert, to turn against.

7. DE means Of, From, or Down: as, de-note, to be a sign of; de-tract, to draw from; de-pend, to hang down; de-press, to press down; de-crease, to grow down, to grow less.

8. DIS, or DI, means Away, or Apart: as, dis-pel, to drive away; dis-sect, to cut apart; di-vert, to turn away.

9. E, or Ex,—making also ec, ef,—means Out: as, e-ject, to cast out; e-lect, to choose out; ex-clude, to shut out; ex-cite, to summon out; ec-stacy, a raising out; ef-face, to blot out.

10. EXTRA means Beyond, or Out of: as, extra-vagant, syllabled ex-trav'a-gant, roving be-yond; extra-vasate, ex-trav'a-sate, to flow out of the vessels; extra-territorial, being out of the territory.

11. IN,—which makes also il, im, ir,—means In, Into, or Upon: as, in-spire, to breathe in; il-lude, to draw in by deceit; im-mure, to wall in; ir-ruption, a rushing in; in-spect, to look into; in-scribe, to write upon; in-sult, to jump upon. These syllables, prefixed, to English nouns or adjectives, generally reverse their meaning; as in in-justice, il-legality, im-partiality, ir-religion, ir-rational, in-secure, in-sane.

12. INTER means Between, or In between: as, inter-sperse, to scatter in between; inter-jection, something thrown in between; inter-jacent, lying between; inter-communication, communication between.

13. INTRO means In, Inwards, or Within: as, intro-duce, to lead in; intro-vert, to turn inwards; intro-spect, to look within; intro-mission, a sending-in.

14. OB,—which makes also oc, of, op,—means Against: as, ob-trude, to thrust against; oc-cur, to run against; of-fer, to bring against; op-pose, to place against; ob-ject, to cast against.

15. PER means Through or By: as, per-vade, to go through; per-chance, by chance; per-cent, by the hundred; per-plex, to tangle through, or to entangle thoroughly.

16. POST means After: as, post-pone, to place after; post-date, to date after.

17. PRÆ, or PRE, means Before: as, pre-sume, to take before; pre-position, a placing-before, or thing placed before; præ-cognita, things known before.

18. PRO means For, Forth, or Forwards: as, pro-vide, to take care for; pro-duce, to bring forth; pro-trude, to thrust forwards; pro-ceed, to go forward; pro-noun, for a noun.

19. PRETER means By, Past, or Beyond: as, preter-it, bygone, or gone by; preter-imperfect, past imperfect; preter-natural, beyond what is natural; preter-mit, to put by, to omit.

20. RE means Again or Back: as, re-view, to view again; re-pel, to drive back.

21. RETRO means Backwards, Backward, or Back: as, retro-active, acting backwards; retro-grade, going backward; retro-cede, to cede back again.

22. SE means Aside or Apart: as, se-duce, to lead aside; se-cede, to go apart.

23. SEMI means Half: as, semi-colon, half a colon; semi-circle, half a circle.

24. SUB,—which makes suf, sug, sup, sur, and sus,—means Under, and sometimes Up: as, sub-scribe, to write under; suf-fossion, an undermining; sug-gest, to convey under; sup-ply, to put under; sur-reption, a creeping-under; sus-tain, to hold up; sub-ject, cast under.

25. SUBTER means Beneath: as, subter-fluous, flowing beneath.

26. SUPER means Over or Above: as, super-fluous, flowing over; super-natant, swimming above; super-lative, carried over, or carrying over; super-vise, to overlook, to oversee.

27. TRANS,—whence TRAN and TRA,—means Beyond, Over, To another state or place: as, trans-gress, to pass beyond or over; trans-cend, to climb over; trans-mit to send to an other place; trans-form, to change to an other shape; tra-montane, from beyond the mountains; i.e., Trans-Alpine, as opposed to Cis-Alpine.

CLASS III.—THE GREEK PREFIXES.

1. A and AN, in Greek derivatives, denote privation: as, a-nomalous, wanting rules; an-ony-mous, wanting name; an-archy, want of government; a-cephalous, headless.

2. AMPHI means Two, Both, or Double: as, amphi-bious, living in two elements; amphi-brach, both [sides] short; amphi-theatre, a double theatre.

3. ANTI means Against: as, anti-slavery, against slavery; anti-acid, against acidity; anti-febrile, against fever; anti-thesis, a placing-against.

4. APO, APH,—From: as, apo-strophe, a turning-from; aph-aeresis, a taking from.

5. DIA,—Through: as, dia-gonal, through the corners; dia-meter, measure through.

6. EPI, EPH,—Upon: as, epi-demic, upon the people; eph-emera, upon a day.

7. HEMI means Half: as, hemi-sphere, half a sphere; hemi-stich, half a verse.

8. HYPER means Over: as, hyper-critical, over-critical; hyper-meter, over measure. 9. HYPO means Under: as, hypo-stasis, substance, or that which stands under; hypo-thesis, supposition, or a placing-under; hypo-phyllous, under the leaf.

10. META means Beyond, Over, To an other state or place: as, meta-morphose, to change to an other shape; meta-physics, mental science, as beyond or over physics.

11. PARA means Against: as, para-dox, something contrary to common opinion.

12. PERI means Around: as, peri-phery, the circumference, or measure round.

13. SYN,—whence Sym, Syl,—means Together: as, syn-tax, a putting-together; sym-pathy, a suffering-together; syl-lable, what we take together; syn-thesis a placing-together.

CLASS IV.—THE FRENCH PREFIXES.

1. A is a preposition of very frequent use in French, and generally means To. I have suggested above that it is probably the same as the Anglo-Saxon prefix a. It is found in