Before stating my question I'd like to go ahead and post the definitions of two words from Meriam-Webster:

ap·pre·hend
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin apprehendere, literally, to seize, from ad- + prehendere to seize -- more at GET
Date: 15th century
transitive senses
1 : ARREST, SEIZE <apprehend a thief>
2 a : to become aware of : PERCEIVE b : to anticipate especially with anxiety, dread, or fear
3 : to grasp with the understanding : recognize the meaning of
intransitive senses : UNDERSTAND, GRASP

apprehensive:
Function: adjective
Date: 14th century
1 : capable of apprehending or quick to do so : DISCERNING
2 : having apprehension : COGNIZANT
3 : viewing the future with anxiety or alarm

My question is, how did apprehensive aquire its connotation of anxiety? Merriam-Webster's first two entries for the word seem much more literal, yet I never hear anybody use "apprehensive" to describe someone who is perceptive or a quick learner. Apprehend, on the other hand, seems to be commonly used both as "to seize" and "to understand."

I think, Alex, that the heavy weight of the term "apprehended" precluded the cognizant nature of apprehension. Words are sex and sex is fun, aren't they.

apprehensile:

Am I gonna get any tail tonight?

In reply to:

---

Words are sex and sex is fun, aren't they.

---

Huh?

I use 'Comprehend' to imply understanding and have always used 'Apprehend' in the context of arrest or custodial detention.

Words are sex and sex is fun, aren't they?
--------------------

Huh?

Alex, Alex, Alex. Of course you don't understand. Those words were written late at night with rare insight and with the aide of a Catalyst of Inspiration. What you need is a Catalyst of Comprehension. Pour yourself a 16 ounce tumbler of 100% Dixie Dew Biting Whiskey. Go read a book and drink the Biting Dew. Come back and re-read my remarks. You'll laugh, you'll cry. You'll wonder how you could have been so dense.

Well, milum, 16 oz of any liquor sounds like a sure fire way to stimulate the brain for a night, and destroy it for about 24 hours the next day. (I get some serious hangovers these days with any anabasis beyond the pale of moderation.)

RE: comprehend vs apprehend. I use the former as well, in fact far more often than the latter. I tend to think of comprehend in the context of grasping the literal meaning of something. "I tried following the directions but I couldn't comprehend the manual." To apprehend, on the other hand, I tend to think of as to understand or recognize something subtle or unspoken.

Bartleby.com summarizes this better than I can:

Only in the “understand” sense are these words synonyms, although apprehend seems to stress understanding in the sense of “recognizing” (He seems to have apprehended, finally, that he has no standing in the case), whereas comprehend seems to stress understanding as “the intellectual process required to achieve comprehension” (After studying the various proposals, we finally comprehended what all the fuss was about).

But my original question is, where did the fear connotation of apprehensive creep in? Anybody out there with an OED care to educate me?

where did the fear connotation of apprehensive creep in?

I believe we had a simple meaning of having an anticipation of future events including both positive and negative events and, somehow, the adverse event connotation squoz out the others. I little thought would probably produce many other words to which this process has occurred.

Apprehensive means you feel the fickle finger of fate about to penetrate.....

wwh: House of God references are always enjoyed. :)

Come to think of it, comprehensive has taken on its own special meaning that is distinct from comprehend. I think the various nature of these words has to do with the versatility of the root form that means to seize, prehendere. Hence something that is all-inclusive is comprehensive, or holding all.

Interestingly, prehendere is related to the Greek word for a vine, presumably due to the clingy nature of the plant.

"Interestingly, prehendere is related to the Greek word for a vine, presumably due to the clingy nature of the plant..."

And, if one supposes that we are talking about 'grape' vines, then I finally comprehend what milum was talking about as his 'Catalyst of Inspiration'....

And, if one supposes that we are talking about 'grape' vines, then I finally comprehend what milum was talking about as his 'Catalyst of Inspiration'....

Quite so. We could become comprehensively inspired once we had finished off all the wine.Really, who can match the delightful wordplay of "apprehensile"? I'm just swimming in its wake.

Interestingly, prehendere is related to the Greek word for a vine

AHD traces prehendere back to the IE ghend- (http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE159.html). Nary a word about nothin Greek. What's the word, Alex?

Alex must have taken milum's advice and found enlightenment in a 16 oz tumbler Everything was Greek to him then, even the fickle finger of Fate

In Alex's defense, the AHD IE root section does only cite words what made it into English.

think the various nature of these words has to do with the versatility of the root form that means to seize, prehendere

Indeed Alex, 'prehendere' seems to be at the root of this confusion. The other such word that immediately springs to mind is 'Reprehend'. Both this word and its adjective, reprehensible, do not seem to have any logical connection at all to their etymological derivation. Oh dear, seems like another thread is intent on interweaving with this.
If there is someone who is a Latin buff on this board, maybe he/she can help with a comprehensive understanding of the reach of the root, 'Prehendere'.