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APHESIS

Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language | 1998 | | Copyright

APHESIS [Stress: ‘AH-fe-sis’]. The loss of an unstressed vowel at the beginning of a WORD, as in prentice from apprentice, sometimes leading to a word with a new meaning and use: lone from alone, slant from aslant, squire from esquire. Younger children often speak aphetically, a style that Rudyard Kipling imitates in Just So Stories (1902), marking the loss with an apostrophe: 'Stute Fish, 'scruciating idle, 'sclusively bare, 'satiable curiosity. See APH(A)ERESIS, ELISION.

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TOM McARTHUR. "APHESIS." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

TOM McARTHUR. "APHESIS." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-APHESIS.html

TOM McARTHUR. "APHESIS." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-APHESIS.html

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aphesis

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | Copyright

aph·e·sis / ˈafisis/ • n. Linguistics the loss of an unstressed vowel at the beginning of a word (e.g., of a from around to form round). DERIVATIVES: a·phet·ic / əˈfetik/ adj. a·phet·i·cal·ly / əˈfetik(ə)lē/ adv.

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"aphesis." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"aphesis." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-aphesis.html

"aphesis." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-aphesis.html

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aphesis

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | | Copyright

aphesis (philol.) loss of a short initial unaccented syllable as in (a)lone, (e)squire. XIX. — Gr. áphesis letting go, f. aphiénai, f. APO- + hiénai let go, send.
So aphetic XIX. f. Gr. áphetos vbl. adj.

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T. F. HOAD. "aphesis." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "aphesis." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-aphesis.html

T. F. HOAD. "aphesis." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-aphesis.html

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