Loss of wiþer-words in English
The element wiþer is documented in Old English as a separate lexeme and a prefix.
Altogether, Bosworth-Toller’s An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary records 69 wiþer-lexemes,
which implies that wiþer- was relatively productive and flexible. Generally, wiþer-
was added to words with the sense of ‘against’; in rare cases, it denoted ‘in return or compensation’ and ‘in the
opposite direction’ (OED). Curiously, the majority of wiþer-lexemes are not recorded
in Middle English: merely 24 words occur in MED. The aim of this study is to account for the loss of
wiþer-lexemes. Potential causes are linguistic, such as low frequency and the similarity of the
prefix wiþer- to wiþ-, and extra-linguistic, including competition with foreign
items and changes in pragmatic associations of the words.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Aims
- 3.Data
- 4.Methodology
- 5.Old English lexemes
- 6.Middle English
- 7.Causes of the loss of wiþer-words
- 8.Conclusions
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Notes
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References