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It seems, however, that in all the offered specimens, that there, at least, is an inherent ambiguity in the
be- prefix


As 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.

#53438 02/03/02 02:50 AM
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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]






#53439 02/03/02 05:23 AM
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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.


#53440 02/03/02 12:52 PM
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I would like to apologize publicly to Keiva for not using smileys (except facetiously)


#53441 02/03/02 02:54 PM
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Huh? No apology needed here, buddy. LMBYAB. [beer -e]


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