Susan,
Let me revise one thing I say below. I don't think it's the case that the female meaning of "breast" developed later than the general meaning. Rather, the earliest citation of that meaning comes from around 1000AD while the earliest citation of the gender-neutral meaning is about two centuries earlier. Undoubtedly the two meanings were contemporaneous. The preservation of the latter meaning in fossilized forms like "breastplate," "breastworks," "breasting a wave," "keeping abreast of," etc. demonstrates that the gender-neutral meaning is at best a secondary one today and more likely survives only in fossilized forms.
Herb
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of STAHLKE, HERBERT F
Sent: 2008-05-31 16:40
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Lonely Morphology
Susan,
Generally speaking, the best general reference on English etymology is the OED 2nd Ed. Online. It's more comprehensive than the two-volume edition. After that, I'd go to something like Ernest Klein's "A comprehensive etymological dictionary of the English language; dealing with the origin of words and their sense development thus illustrating the history of civilization and culture," as the most thorough etymological dictionary available. Most other sources are selective as to which words they cover and tend to operate on a "wonder of words" basis.
What you've described as a typical native speaker reaction is dead on. That's how analogical changes arise. But there still remain some fossilized forms, and that's what I suggested "ashamedly" was. It would have come about before the past participle prefix developed into the modern English a- prefix and so it would survive as a unique form.
As to breast, the older meaning refers to the front of the chest and was used of either sex. So "abreast" would have meant "chests aligned" rather than "breasts aligned."
Herb
________________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Susan van Druten [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: May 31, 2008 2:27 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Lonely Morphology
Language is democratically crass. If it's hard for regular speakers of the language to distinguish (because it is not stressed), then it would make sense that it would wrongly be lumped with the rest and lose the "a" prefix. Regular speakers aren't going to stop and say, Wait, I don't have to say shamedly because the a is historically part of the root.
I was kidding about breastily. But I'm not sure what you mean about it having an older meaning. Is there another meaning other than "with breasts in line"?
I have the shorten OED (2 volumes), I will soon own Robertson's Words for a Modern Age, and I have downloaded the entire Etomonline from Doug Harper, who says this about "ashamed":
ashamed - O.E. asceamed, pp. of ascamian "to put to shame," from a- intensive prefix + scamian "to put to shame" (see shame).
Are there better or more varied sources I could be using?
Susan
On May 31, 2008, at 12:47 PM, STAHLKE, HERBERT F wrote:
"Ashamedly" is a very nice counter-example, even if it's only an apparent counter-example. The initial a- is etymologically not a prefix, coming from OE asceamod, but that a- gets confused historically with the a- prefix we're talking about, which derives from the OE prefix ge-, which is used, among other things, to form past participles, and it's that ge- prefix that is the primary source of the modern English a- prefix on adjectives. My guess is that we retain the a- in "ashamedly" because it is historically part of the root, not a prefix, even though it's hard to tell from the a- of "awake" in modern English. The form "ashamedly" would be a fossil. As to "breastily," that does not suggest the same meaning as "abreast." I suspect it's derived in a different way? "Abreast" is an interesting case where a morpheme, "breast," maintains an older meaning in a very specialized usage.
Herb
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Susan van Druten
Sent: 2008-05-31 13:35
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Lonely Morphology
I just can resist mentioning "ashamedly." Why did we retain that "a"?
But then there's "abreast." Why do you suppose we keep the same form for the adverb? What's wrong with walking breastily?
On May 31, 2008, at 8:57 AM, STAHLKE, HERBERT F wrote:
Susan,
That's why I specified that it was prefixal a-, but I should have excluded the Greek-derived negative prefix a-, as in "amorally." It's the native English prefix a- as in asleep, awake, aware, alive, etc. We do have "sleepily," "warily," and "lively," but notice that they all lose the prefix if they add -ly. And the -ly is often added to a derived adjective stem in -y, as with "wary" and "sleepy." By the way, one can make an argument that the Greek-derived a- is actually a bound root involved in compound formation because of its stress pattern. Notice we don't stress the prefix of "alike" but we do in "amoral."
Herb
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Susan van Druten
Sent: 2008-05-31 09:24
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Lonely Morphology
I'm not sure what you mean. There are many adjectives turned adverb
that start with an "a": amiably, absurdly, amorally, adjectivally.
Susan
On May 31, 2008, at 7:47 AM, STAHLKE, HERBERT F wrote:
"Lonely," by the way, is an interesting word, an adverb derived
from "lone" which is itself an aphetic form (initial vowel dropped)
of "alone." "Alone" appears first in 1300 as an adjective derived
from a combination of "all one," a phrase that was current at the
time. "Lone" appeared in 1377 by the loss of the initial vowel
(aphesis, hence, "aphetic"). I wonder if the need for an adverbial
form could have contributed to the aphesis, since we don't add -ly
to adjectives starting with the prefix a-.
Herb
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of STAHLKE, HERBERT F
Sent: 2008-05-31 08:39
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Lonely Morphology
There's even a name for it, haplology. Wikipedia informs me, and
OED concurs, that the word was introduced by American philologist
Maurice Bloomfield in an 1895 Journal article. The date and source
are from the OED entry.
Herb
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of DD Farms
Sent: 2008-05-30 21:23
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Lonely Morphology
At 06:37 30/05/2008, STAHLKE, HERBERT F wrote:
. . . we don't generally like to repeat a syllable
immediately. Notice how we can say "He's becoming a good
grammarian" but tend to avoid "He may be becoming a good
grammarian," and if we say it in normal speech we'll drop one of
the "be"s.
DD: A really great point that was new to me. I appreciate the concept
and thank you for the insight. I like things that make me stop and
think, and that really did.
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