y-
y- prefix repr. OE ġe- = OS. gi-, ge-, i-, MLG., MDu. g(h)e- (LG., Du. ge-), OHG. ga-, ka-, gi-, ki- (G. ge-) Goth. ga- :- Gmc. *ʒa-. The parallelism of form and meaning of such words as L. commūnis and Goth. gamains, OE. ġemǣne COMMON has suggested the identity of Gmc. ʒa- and L. COM-. This prefix is disguised in form or its force is obliterated in AFFORD, AWARE, EACH, EITHER, ENOUGH, EVERYWHERE, HANDICRAFT, HANDIWORK, NEITHER. From mid-XVI archaizing poets created new formations, e.g. ychain'd, yshrilled. The orig. physical meaning ‘with’, ‘together’, yielded the notion of associations, and hence of appropriateness and collectivity, the final stage being the notion of completeness, a special application being the use of the prefix in pps., regular in OE. and continuing in south. ME. till XV. The OE. form ġe- was succeeded in ME. by ʒe-, i(e)-, y-, the last of which is regular in Spenser and his imitators, as in YCLAD, YCLEPT.
More From encyclopedia.com
Language, Linguistics, and Literary Terms , -ly2 suffix forming advs. of manner. OE. -līċe, ME. -liche, -līke, -liʒe, -li(e) = OS., OHG. -līko (Du. -lijk, G. -lich), ON. -liga, Goth. -leikō: f.… Ganesa , Gaṇeśa
GAṆEŚA ("lord of the group") is the elephant-headed Hindu deity. Also called Vināyaka ("leader"), Gajānana ("elephant-faced"), Gaṇādhipa ("lor… -ism , -ISM
-ISM. A noun-forming SUFFIX, three of whose uses relate to language: (1) Forming words for concepts, activities, and conditions: agrammatism, bi… Aramaic , ARAMAIC , an ancient northwestern *Semitic language spoken (to some extent) to this day. The entry is arranged according to the following outline:
AN… Ediacaran , Ediacaran The last (i.e. youngest) faunal stage of the Precambrian; it is marked by the presence, at localities all over the world, of the distinctiv… Hygroscopic Nucleus , hygroscopic nucleus Microscopic particle (e.g. of sulphur dioxide, salt, dust, or smoke) in the free air, on which water vapour may condense to form…
You Might Also Like
NEARBY TERMS
y-