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It seems, however, that in all the offered specimens, that there, at least, is an inherent ambiguity in the
be- prefixAs usual, Shakespeare best expressed that ambiguity: "To be- or not to be-; that is the question". 
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I've been meaning to get around to this for sime time and finally got off my duff. The be- prefix in Old English had three possible meanings. Quoted from A Guide to Old English by Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson:
be- 1 In some words be- is the same as the prep. 'about', e.g. be-gan'surround' and be-ridan 'ride
around, surround'.
2 Sometimes it is a deprivative, e.g. be-dælan 'deprive' and be-heafdian 'behead'.
3 It can make an intransitive verb transitive, e.g. be-<THORN>encan 'think about' and be-wepan 'bewail'.
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Thanks for that, Faldage! To be- or not to be- is no longer the be- question! (or be- quest!) So I guess the only item left here to bequestion the Board with is "do you consider betrothed to be a gaining or losing, or both? 
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Sometimes it is a deprivative, e.g. 'behead'.Faldage is of course cross-threading to "bobbit". We are much beholden to you, sir.
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I would say that he apologizes to me for suggesting that I intended something that I neither intended nor, in retrospect, recognized that I intended.
The thread started with: why does behead imply taking something away?
[cross thread]Please do not ever presume to put words in my mouth[/cross thread]
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My dear faldage, and not to pick nits, but there's such a thing as speaking facetiously, and I'd think there's a great difference between "faldage says _______ [ wink ]" and "keiva says ________ [no wink]" I agree with you that a winkless misquote might well call for an apology. 
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I would like to apologize publicly to Keiva for not using smileys (except facetiously  )
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Huh? No apology needed here, buddy. LMBYAB. [beer -e]
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