a-,prefixfrom various sources.1.OE.a-, originally ar- (rarely preserved, as in ar-æfnan),OHG.ar-, ir- ur- (mod.G. er-),Goth.us- ur-, implying motion onward or away from a position, hence away, on, up, out, and thus with verbs of motion adding intensity; as in a-bide, a-go, a-rise, a-wake, and manyobs.verbs; after the analogy of which it was subsequently prefixed to othervbs., not found with it inOE., as a-curse. In some words this a- has been formally confused withOFr.a-:—L. ad-, ac-, af-, etc. (No.7), and, like this, refashioned after assumed L. analogies, as in a(c)-curse, for a-curse, a(l)-lay for a-lay, a(f)-fright for a-fright, etc.2.ME.a-:—OE.an, on,prep.See aprep.¹ above. With nouns, in, on, engaged in, at, in loose combinations, which are really two words; as abed, ashore, afield, asleep, alive. With verbs, adverbs, and prepositions, more closely combined both in form and sense, as aknow, ashame, afore, among, across.3.ME.a-:—OE.ofprep.(seeaprep.²)meaning off, from, in a-down, a-thirst; of, in akin, anew, afresh, a-clock.4.ME.a-:—OE.and- against, opposite, as in a-long.5.ME.a- for atprep., Norse atprep.‘to,’ used in the north as sign of the infinitive=to. In ado, early northernEng.at do. See also a-doors.6.ME.a- for i-, y-:—ȝe-, as in a(f)-ford, along=owing to, and in southernpa.pples.as a-done, etc. See a particle above.7.ME.a-=Fr.pref.a-:—L. ad-, to, at, hence sometimes expressing addition or increase, sometimes bringing into a state; as in abandon, abase, abate, abut, achieve, adroit, agree, alarm, amass, amaze, ameliorate, amerce, amount, amuse, apropos, avail, avenge, avenue, aver, avouch, avow. In 14thcent.a practice arose among French scribes of refashioning words originally having this prefix, after L. ad- and its phonetic variants ac-, af-, ag-, al-, an-, ap-, ar-, as-, at-; this extended in 15th c. toEng., where the great majority of words fromOFr.were so treated, so as to simulate a direct formation from L.Cf.a(d)dress, a(c)count, a(f)fect, a(g)grieve, a(l)lege, a(n)noy, a(p)pear, a(c)quit, a(r)rive, a(s)sent, a(t)tain, a(d)venture, a(d)vertise, a(d)vise, a(d)vocate, a(d)vowson, where etymological spelling would have simple a-. It was even extended to words not derived from L. ad-, as a(d)vance,Fr.avancer, L. ab-anteāre; a(c)knowledge,OE.on- + knowledge; a(c)curse,OE.a- + curse.8.ME.a-=Fr.a-:—L. ab off, away, from; as in a-bridge (ab-breviāre), a-steyne, a-soil. Sometimes afterwards refashioned, as ab-stain, or confused with theprec.and erroneously respelt, as as-soil.9.ME.a-=Anglo-Fr.a- forOFr.e-, es-:—L. ex- out, utterly; as in a-mend (L. emendare) abash (OFr.esbahiss-), afforce (esforcer), affray (esfrei), and many forms, nowobs.or refashioned, as a-may, as-aumple, as-cape, a-move; or where the a- has been lost by aphesis, as scapement, sample, spenser; or has been confused withNo.10 and refashioned with en-, as ex-emplum, es-emple, a-saumple, an-sample, en-sample; or with ad- as admerveille.10.ME.a-:—earlierEng.andAnglo-Fr.an-,OFr.en-. ThisAnglo-Fr.an- was formally confused withOE.an-(seeNo.2), and like it reducedbef.acons.to a-, as in abushment, acloy, acumber, alumine, apeach, apair, apoison. In most cases these words are nowobs.or refashioned, as ambushment, encumber, enlumine, impeach; or have been aphetized, as peach, cloy, limn; or have been further confused with words in a-:—L. ad- (No.7), and erroneously respelt accordingly, as accloy, accumber, allumine, appair, appeach.11.Many words with a- in one or other of the preceding senses have aphetic forms with the a- lost, as adown down, amid mid, alive live, amend mend, abate bate. In others the force of the prefix is so little apparent, that the derivatives in a- hardly differ in sense from their primitives, as in rise arise, wake awake, grieve a(g)grieve, cumber acumber, done adone. Hence, it naturally happened that all these a- prefixes were at length confusedly lumped together in idea, and the resultant a- looked upon as vaguely intensive, rhetorical, euphonic, or even archaic, and wholly otiose. With this vague feeling, a- was often prefixed by Spenser and other artificial archaists of the 16thcent.to words both ofOE.and Romance origin, where it had no historical or etymological basis and can only be explained as due to vague form-association. This also was often treated like a:—L. ad (No.7), and spelt ad-, ac-, af-, ag-, etc. accordingly.12.a-, from L. a=ad prefix and preposition, to; reduced in late Latin to a- before sc-, sp-, st-; as in a-scend, a-spirate, a-scribe, a-spect, a-spersion, a-spire, a-spirate, a-strict, a-stringent. See ad-.13.a-, from L. a=ab, prefix and preposition from, off, away; only before v, as in avert. See ab-.14.a-, fromGr.ἀ-, usedbef.acons.for ἀν-,pref.of privation or negation=without, not, -less, in words introd. intoEng.through L. andFr.as abysm, adamant, amethyst; or through L. as acatalectic, adiaphorous, apetalous; or fromGr.direct (or through amod.lang.) as amorphous, adipsy; or formed onGr.elements, as abiogenetic, agnostic. In the latter case, a- has become a living prefix of negation=un-, non-, applied not only to words fromGr., as a-cotyledonous, a-chromatic, a-philanthropy, but also to technical words from L., as a-caulous, a-sexual.15.a-, fromGr.ἀ- intensive, as in a-bolla, a-maurosis, a-tlas.