aphesis
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English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Attested since 1880.[1]Learned borrowingfromAncient Greekἄφεσις(áphesis,“letting go”),fromἀφίημι(aphíēmi),fromἀπό(apó,“off”)+ἵημι(híēmi,“send forth”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key):/ˈæ.fə.sɪs/
Audio(Southern England): (file)
Noun
[edit]aphesis(countableanduncountable,pluralapheses)
- (phonetics,linguistics,prosody)Thelossof theinitialunstressedvowelof aword.
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]loss of the initial unstressed vowel of a word
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^James Murray(1881) “Dictionary wants: Terms wanted”, inTransactions of the Philological Society 1880-1881,Oxford,page175:
- One of the commonest phenomena in the history of English words is the dropping of an initial toneless vowel usuallya-e- ori-. Thusa-downhas becomedown,a-mendmend,a-roundround,attiretire,alarumlarum,alembiclimbeck,alonelone,estatestate,esquiresquire,estopstop,escapescape,eluminelimn,imongmong(er),iworkwork,icleptclept,and thus poets still makeabove’bove,against’gainst,among’mong.We want a name for this phonetic phenomenon, and especially a descriptive adjective for these shortened forms, indicating the way in which the initial toneless vowel is as it were “let go.” The Editor can think of nothing better than to call the phenomenonAphesis(from Gr.ἀφίημι), and the resulting formsApheticforms. He will be glad if any one can suggest anything better, as the terms are required on almost every page of the Dictionary.
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Ancient Greek
- English learned borrowings from Ancient Greek
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- en:Phonetics
- en:Linguistics
- en:Prosody
- English terms with usage examples