Fossilised causatives

Andrew Patterson · Post by **Andrew Patterson** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:06 pm

Etymology on-line can be frustrating:

bet 1592, probably aphetic of abet, or from beet "to make good," from O.E. bætan "make better, arouse, stimulate," from P.Gmc. *baitjanan. First surfaced in argot of petty criminals. The original notion is perhaps to "improve" a contest by wagering on it. Used since 1852 in various Amer.Eng. slang assertions (cf. you bet "be assured," 1857).

So if bet is from make good, what word is it derrived from if any which simply means good, one cognate with French "bon" perhaps.

Not clear about brood and breed:

brood O.E. brod, from P.Gmc. *brod (cf. M.Du. broet, O.H.G. bruot), lit. "that which is hatched by heat," from *bro- "to warm, heat," from PIE *bhre- "burn, heat, incubate," from base *bhreue- "to boil, bubble, effervesce, burn" (see brew). The verbal figurative meaning ("to incubate in the mind") is first recorded 1571, from notion of "nursing" one's anger, resentment, etc.

breed O.E. bredan "bring young to birth, carry," also "cherish, keep warm," from W.Gmc. *brodjan (cf. O.H.G. bruoten, Ger. brüten "to brood, hatch"), from *brod- "fetus, hatchling," from PIE *bhre- "burn, heat" (see brood). Original notion of the word was incubation, warming to hatch. Breeding "good manners" is from 1596.

JuanTwoThree · Post by **JuanTwoThree** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 5:15 pm

"well" to boil/bubble : "weld" to cause to boil/bubble. Probably from past participle says Chambers.

Life, live, enliven? bathe, breathe, drive/drove (as in drover) ?

The causative -en (blacken) has something to do with the participle -en (written) ?

The website etymonline.com has its deficiencies, doesn't it?

This informative page:

http://www.etymonline.com/imutate.php

gives some clues about causatives and i-mutation but the entries themselves don't go into it any more.

Andrew Patterson · Post by **Andrew Patterson** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 8:34 pm

Well of cause the prefix en- is how we do it these days though you can't use it for everything. It seems to have the additional idea of "put in" it isn't purely causitive. This prefix seems to date at least from the middle ages:

en- prefix meaning "cause to be, make" (endear); "put in or on" (encircle); from O.Fr. en-, from L. in- "in, into." Also used as an intensive (enclose). Spelling variants in O.Fr. brought over into M.E. account for parallels such as assure/insure/ensure. Many words beginning with en- in Mod.Eng. are transparent (enforce, etc.) and etymologies can be found in listings for their stems. Words listed here include those whose unprefixed form is not an obvious word in Eng. (encroach) or whose meaning has drifted significantly (engrain).

enable
enact
enamour
encamp
encapsulate
encase
endanger

Juan wrote:

The website etymologyonline.com has its deficiencies, doesn't it?

Give the guy a break, it seems to the work of one guy. I am as surprised as he seems that this is the only on-line etymology. I expect wiktionary will branch out into this area eventually, in the mean time, all I can say is well done.

JuanTwoThree · Post by **JuanTwoThree** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 8:59 pm

You're quite right. It's somebody's labour of love and it's wrong to complain.

Andrew Patterson · Post by **Andrew Patterson** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 11:03 pm

Actually, the suffix "-ify" seems closer to a true causative. Unfortunately, it only makes verbs from nouns eg solid -> solidify.