Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith.org Forums (Old) Weekly themes. (have been consolidated into a single forum above) Beheading words The be- prefix: adding or subtracting?
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
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'.
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,913Posts229,350Members9,182 Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now 0 members (), 773 guests, and 1 robot. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 22ddrinnan 1
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613wofahulicodoc 10,549tsuwm 10,542LukeJavan8 9,918Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith.org