Privative

A privative, named from Latin , is a particle that negates or inverts the value of the stem of the word. In Indo-European languages, many privatives are prefixes, but they can also be suffixes, or more independent elements.

A privative, named from Latin , is a particle that negates or inverts the value of the stem of the word. In Indo-European languages, many privatives are prefixes, but they can also be suffixes, or more independent elements. ==Privative prefixes== In English there are three primary privative prefixes, all cognate from Proto-Indo-European: un- from West Germanic, from Proto-Germanic; e.g. unprecedented, unbelievable in- from Latin; e.g. incapable, inarticulate. a-, called alpha privative, from Ancient Greek , , from Proto-Hellenic *ə-; e.g. apathetic, abiogenesis. These all stem from a PIE syllabic nasal privative *n̥-, the zero ablaut grade of the negation *ne, i.e. "n" used as a vowel, as in some English pronunciations of "button". This is the source of the 'n' in 'an-' privative prefixed nouns deriving from the Greek, which had both. For this reason, it appears as an- before vowel, e.g. anorexia, anesthesia. The same prefix appears in Sanskrit, also as a- अ-, an- अन्- ( , -n- infix). In Slavic languages the privative is nie- and u-, e.g. nieboga, ubogi. In North Germanic languages, the -n- has disappeared and Old Norse has ú- (e.g. ú-dáins-akr), which became u- in Danish and Norwegian, o- in Swedish, and ó- in Icelandic. Privative prefixes are not a feature exclusive to Indo-European languages, but also exist in languages belonging to other families, such as (Semitic). ==Privative suffixes== Some languages have privative suffixes; -less is an example in English. Further examples are -t(a)lan or -t(e)len in Hungarian or -ton/-tön in Finnish (non-IE languages). ==See also== Copulative a Privative a Abessive case ==Notes== ==References== ==External links==

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