Dis-
Encyclopedia : D : DI : DIS : Dis-
The prefix dis- (also di-, dif-) first appeared in English words in the Middle English period in words borrowed from French (usually as the French des-). It comes from the Latin prefix dis-, which is thought to have come from 'duus' two and thus had the most basic sense of 'two ways' hance 'apart.' It was attached to words of non-Latinate origin as early as 1563 (sush as the now ungrammatical 'disalike')and became a living, productive prefix (though nearly always combined with Latinate roots) by no later than the mid-1600s. It still is a living, productive prefix, although in a limited capacity (mainly science and noncewords).
Forms
- di- (dis- + b-, d-, g-, l-, m-, n-, r-, s-, v-) (examples: digestion, dilation, diminution, direction, diversion). There are no examples for b-, d-, j-, and n- but Latin had dibucinare, diducere, dijungere and dinumere.
- dif- (dis- + f-) (example: difference)
- dis- (dis- + c-, p-, q-, s-, t-) (examples: discussion, disparate, disqualification, dissemination, distraction) Note: sometimes the s- of the word following dis- was absorbed (example: disperse < dis- + spargere) and sometimes not (example: dissemination < dis- + semen). This makes a difference in orthography rather than phonology.
Effect on following vowel
When attached to a verbal root, prefixes often change the first vowel (whether initial or preceded by a consonant/consonant cluster) of that verb. These phonological changes took place in Latin and usually do not apply to words created (as in Modern Latin) from Latin components since Latin became a 'dead' language. Note: the combination of prefix and following vowel did not always yield the same change. (see examples below at con- + -a-) Also, these changes in vowels are not necessarily particular to being prefixed with dis- (i.e. other prefixes sometimes cause the same vowel change- see con-, ex-).
In nearly all French words of Latin origin, dis- became des-.
In nearly all Spanish words of Latin origin, dis- became des-.
See also
List of English prefixes
See also
List of English prefixes
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.