*aba-

Runic: ᚨᛒᚨ- Pronunciation: /ɑ.βɑ/

prefix

Function

combining form of *ab (‘away, off’)

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *apó, alternatively reconstructed as *h₂epó. The *b reflects Verner’s Law: in the inherited preverb *apó-, *p followed the unaccented initial syllable *a-, since the accent fell on the second syllable, and the resulting voiced fricative was retained when the element became a bound Proto-Germanic prefix; the accentual history of Indo-European preverbs is, however, not entirely straightforward (Fulk 2018: 102; Ringe 2017: 125, 141). Cognate with Sanskrit अप (ápa), Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó), Latin ab, and probably with Hittite 𒀀𒀊𒉺 (a-ap-pa /āppa/); the Anatolian form without a reflex of the laryngeal is one reason to prefer *apó (Byrd 2015: 8; Dunkel 2014: 66–83).

Descendants

  • *ab(a), *af(a) (Proto-West Germanic)
    • ava, af- (Old Dutch)
      • ave, af (Middle Dutch)
        • aaf, aof (Limburgish)
        • of (West Flemish)
  • *ab(a), *af(a) (Proto-West Germanic)
    • ava, af- (Old Dutch)
      • ave, af (Middle Dutch)
        • af (Dutch)
          • af (Afrikaans)
  • *ab(a), *af(a) (Proto-West Germanic)
    • ob, æf, af, of (Old English)
      • of, off (Middle English)
        • of, off (English)
        • of, off, af, aff (Scots)
  • *ab(a), *af(a) (Proto-West Germanic)
    • af, of (Old Frisian)
      • oawe, ou (Saterland Frisian)
      • af, ôf (West Frisian)
  • *ab(a), *af(a) (Proto-West Germanic)
    • aba, ab, ava, af (Old High German)
      • abe, ab, ave, af (Middle High German)
        • of (Luxembourgish)
        • אָפּ (op) (Yiddish)
  • *ab(a), *af(a) (Proto-West Germanic)
    • aba, ab, ava, af (Old High German)
      • abe, ab, ave, af (Middle High German)
        • ab (German)
          • ab (Norwegian Bokmål)
  • *ab(a), *af(a) (Proto-West Germanic)
    • af (Old Saxon)
      • af (Middle Low German)
        • af, of (Low German)
        • auf (Plautdietsch)
  • *ᚨᛒ (*ab) (Proto-Norse)
    • af (Old Norse)
      • af (Danish)
      • av (Faroese)
      • af (Icelandic)
      • av (Norwegian Bokmål)
      • av (Norwegian Nynorsk)
  • *ᚨᛒ (*ab) (Proto-Norse)
    • af (Old Norse)
      • af, āf, aff (Old Swedish)
        • av, af (Swedish)
  • 𐌰𐍆 (af) (Gothic)

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