y-prefix

Etymology: represents Old English ge- , earlier (and Northumbrian) gi- , = Old Frisian gi- , ge- , ie- , e- , a- , Old Saxon gi- , ge- , i- , Middle Low German, Middle Dutch ge- , ghe- , locally i- , y- , e- , (Low German, Dutch ge- ), Old High German ga- , ka- , gi- , ki- , ge- , (Middle High German, German ge- , dialect je- , also gi- , ga- ), Gothic ga- :—Old Germanic *ga-. The parallelism of formation and meaning exemplified by such forms as Latin commūnis and Gothic gamains , Old English gemǽne common, i-mene adj. and adv., Latin convenīre and Gothic gaqiman to assemble, Latin conticēre and Gothic gaþahan to be silent, Latin commemini and Gothic gamunan , Old English gemunan to remember, Latin conferre and Gothic gabaíran to compare, has suggested the probability of the etymological identity of Germanic ga- with Latin co- , com- , and some scholars have accepted this on the assumption that Verner's law operated in some instances of initial consonants. (Latin com- is normally represented by ham- in Old Frankish hamêdii , synonymous with Old High German geido , Middle High German geeide conspirator.) The original form ga- is the only one found in Gothic (e.g. galeiks alike adj.); it was preserved also in Old High German (e.g. galîh ), continued in Middle High German, and survives in a few words in some German dialects. The weakened (unstressed) form gi- was the prevailing one in Old High German and Old Saxon and is the earliest form recorded in Old Frisian and Old English, but it was early reduced to ge- in the whole of the Low German and High German area. In Scandinavian the prefix had disappeared entirely in prehistoric times as a living element, but relics of it remained in Old Norse glíkr alike adj., gnógr enough adj., pron., n., and adv., greiðr graith adj. (cf. ready adj., adv., int., and n.). The phonetic changes of Old English ge- , resulting in its complete disappearance in modern English as a living formative except in certain dialects, are in general paralleled in most of the Low German (as opposed to the High German) dialects. While in High German the vowel of the prefix not uncommonly underwent syncopation, which has become permanent (to the obscuration of the origin) in certain words, as German gleich (Old High German ga- , gi- , gelîk ) like (alike adj.), gnade (Old High German ginâda , Old Saxon ginâtha , nâtha , Dutch genade , Old Norse náð ), in Low German dialects, on the other hand, there was a tendency for the consonant to fall, leaving i- or e- , in some dialects a- ; e.g. Old Saxon unimetes ‘aliquid incommodum’, Middle Low German ilêtene , past participle of lêten to permit, medeselle (cf. German mitgesell ) companion, enaugh enough, eschein (cf. German geschehen ) happened, Middle Dutch idaen done, idragen drawn, yslagen slain, Dutch dialect ivallig weak, Old Frisian idein done, islein slain, onebunden unbound, enôch , anôch enough, unaborn unborn, ofeslain , ofaslain killed off, East Frisian unikaimed unkempt, North Frisian -enogh (in compounds) enough. Complete suppression of the prefix takes place in certain cases, as in Middle Low German to lîke (cf. German zugleich ) immediately, Low German lîk like, naug enough, schein happened, Old Frisian bedda , sîth companion, fadera godfather, selscip society, West Frisian nôch adv. (beside genôch adj.-pron.), North Frisian nogh enough; the suppression of the prefix is normal in past participles; in words of other classes, it survives sporadically or has been revived through Dutch or High German influence. The like developments of Old English ge- are traceable in the history of several words in which its identity and force have long ceased to be recognized, or from which all traces of the prefix have been obliterated: e.g. Old English geforðian , Middle English iforð(i)e , aforth , afford v., Old English gewær , Middle English iwar(e , awar(e , aware adj., Old English gelíc(e , Middle English ylike , alike adj., like adj., adv., conj., and prep., Old English gemang , ongemang , Middle English ymong n., among prep. and adv., 'mong prep., Old English genoh , Middle English inoȝ , anoȝ , enough adj., pron., n., and adv., 'nuff , Old English handgeweorc handiwork n. (whence, by analogy, handicraft n. and adj.), Old English ǽghwæðer either pron., adj., adv., and conj. For further examples of the complete disappearance of the prefix see below. The general facts of the history and survival of Old English ge- , of which some details are given below, are:—In positions where it was still recognizable as a prefix, it had left few traces in northern English by 1200; its disappearance in the north was assisted by the absence of the prefix in Old Norse. Substantival, adjectival, and verbal forms (other than past participles) continued, not later than the end of the 14th century, only in southern and west-midland dialects. The past participle was regularly formed with the prefix in southern Middle English till about the middle of the 15th century, and its use in the form a- survives in south-western dialects to the present day. Past participles so formed were a prominent feature of the archaistic language of Spenser and his imitators, and a few of them, the most notable of which is yclept adj., persist as conventional archaisms of poetry. In Old English and Middle English the prefix was written either continuously with the body of the word of which it formed a part, or disjoined from it by a full or a half space; in the archaistic usage of the 16th and 17th centuries the general practice was to print the compound as one word, without hyphen. In this Dictionary established and well-known forms such as yclad , yclept , are printed without hyphen, but in other instances the convenience of the reader has been consulted, where occasion arises, in the avoidance of unhyphened forms where these would not suggest the nature of the word-formation. Compounds of the prefix spelt with y- are entered in their alphabetical place, whether as full articles or as cross-references. Compounds which did not come down late enough for the spelling y- to have become established with them have been entered in their place in the letter I: see i- prefix. The choice of y- (and not i- ) by Spenser and other archaists was determined by the prevalence of that form in the texts upon which he modelled his language. There are a few instances of the general survival of the i- form till a late date, e.g. i-thee v.; the retention of i- in iwis adj., adv., and n. is due to the false etymologizing of it as I wis. The original (physical) signification of the prefix, ‘with’, ‘together’, without admixture of transferred meaning, persists in some Old English words, such as gedræg lit. that which is drawn together, band, multitude (cf. Gothic gadragan to heap up or together), gelaþian to summon together, invite (cf. Gothic galaþônσυγκαλεῖν), gerunnen ‘run together’, coagulated (cf. Gothic garinnan to come together), geþéodan ‘conjungere’, to join together, connect; but for the most part its meaning in Old English compounds falls under one or other of the following categories, which are arranged in the probable order of their development in primitive Germanic: the notion of physical accompaniment or conjunction passing into that of (1) association in life, occupation, etc., and hence, of suitability or appropriateness, and (2) collectivity, the final stage being (3) a perfective or intensive notion evolved in some measure from each of the others.