| 释义 |
▪ I. at-, prefix1
[:—OE. æt-.]
The preposition at in composition, with force of ‘at, close to, to’; frequent in OE., and retained in some words in ME., as at-stand(en to stand close to, ‘adstare,’ at-rech(en to reach to, get at, at-fore(n before, at-hind(en behind. In the oldest Eng. the prefix was æt- only when it bore the stress accent (i.e. in ns. and adjs.); ot-, (oþ-, oð-,) when unaccented (in vbs. and prepositions): thus, ˈætgrǽpe grasping at, apprehensive, otˈgrípan, oþˈgrípan, to grip at, oðˈberan to bear to, bring, oðˈíewan (Goth. aˈtaugjan to show). Northumbrian had sometimes æd-, od-: cf. atew. The forms oþ, oð, seem to have arisen in an early assimilation of ot- to óþ-, óð-, from anð-, the old accented form of and-, ond-, occurring in the prep. óð, the meaning of which was not far removed from that of æt-, ot-. But in later OE. the strong form æt- (ME. at-, in south. dial. et-) was extended to all compounds, without regard to the position of the stress. Mod.Eng. has lost all these compounds, exc. that aˈtwíte survives in twit. Atone is a modern formation of a different kind.
▪ II. at-, prefix2
[:—OE. æt-.]
Representing earlier OE. oþ-, oð-, unaccented form of úð- ‘away, from’ = Gothic unþa- in unþa-þliuhan to flee away, G. ent- (in part), OHG. int-, in entfliehen, OHG. intfliohan, Du. ont- in ontvlieden to flee away. This oð-, oþ-, from úð-, being phonetically levelled with óð- from anð-, and ot- the unaccented form of æt- being assimilated to the latter (see prec.), these three prefixes ran together in form, and when at a later time the accented form æt- took the place of its own weak form ot-, oþ-, oð-, it also usurped the place of oð- from anð-, and oð- from úð-, unþ-. The last of these was by far the most frequent in use: hence the most common sense of at- prefix in ME. is ‘from, away’ = Gothic unþa-, Ger. ent-, as in at-bear to bear away, at-flee to flee away, at-go to go away. As úð-, oþ-, had nearly the same sense as æf-, of-, these verbs in at- often take the place of corresponding vbs. in of-, as OE. oð-beran, æt-beran, = of-beran to bear away, ME. at-come = OE. of-cyman to come off, escape, etc. Several new compounds of this type arose in ME., and it was even irregularly extended to Fr. words, as in atscape, refashioned from ascape, OF. escaper. All these are now obsolete.
▪ III. at-, prefix3
Assimilated form of L. ad- to, before t, used in all modern words from Latin. In OF. ad-, at-, was reduced to a-, and so introduced into ME., but afterwards refashioned as at-, after L. spelling, both in Fr. and English, e.g. L. attingĕre, OF. ateindre, later atteindre, ME. ataindre, mod. attainder. The Eng. has also taken at- where Fr. retains the simple a-, as in OF. atorné, mod. atourné, ME. atorney, mod. attorney. The t was also erroneously doubled in various words in at- with prefix a- from other sources, as a(t)tame, a(t)tray, a(t)troke. See ad- prefix2. |