"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] 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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