Not to be confused with "ananas", which may also be found in trees, anabas is a genus of tree-climbing fish (such as the climbing perch of SE Asia) whose name, in Greek, simply means "going up". The Greek "ana" meaning "up", "back" or "again" gives us a host of words from the familiar ("analyse", "anagram") to the highly technical ("anacathartic", "anaclastic"). Its opposite, "kata", meaning "down", is possibly even more productive, although while "anode" and "cathode" form a pair, sadly "anastrophe" is not the opposite of "catastrophe" but rather the use of an unusual or surprising word-order in a sentence.

The anabas on his way up the tree may be said to be in the act of "anabasis", or "going up", although this word in English is usually reserved for a military advance into Anatolia by Cyrus the Younger. Being unsuccesful, he was forced to beat a hasty catabasis back to Persia.

and anacrusis, or pick-up note in music...

looks as if there's an alphbet's worth of ana-s...

From the Internet:
"Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans, and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land and property in Scillus, where he lived for many years before having to move once more, to settle in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.

The Anabasis is his story of the march to Persia to aid Cyrus, who enlisted Greek help to try and take the throne from Artaxerxes, and the ensuing return of the Greeks, in which Xenophon played a leading role. This occurred between 401 B.C. and March 399 B.C. "

sadly "anastrophe" is not the opposite of "catastrophe"

I'm surprised that this statement hasn't attracted dispute yet.

Fong?

dispute

I plead the fifth.

Dear Faldage, be gallant, or you'll need more than a fifth.

Thanks very much for the correction, wwh. It seems I got the story quite wrong (which wouldn't be a first for me!)

sadly "anastrophe" is not the opposite of "catastrophe"

I'm surprised that this statement hasn't attracted dispute yet.

Out of this I intend to stay.

But catastrophe may befall anyone who agrees.