Compound verbs in English consisting of Latin prefix and Latin verb

Some compound verbs in English consist of a Latin prefix and a Latin verb.

Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Boundary 2 Spelling 2.1 Latin verbs: 2.2 Latin prefixes: 2.3 Some examples 2.4 See also:

Boundary

The boundary between the prefix and verb is mostly unclear to English speakers unfamiliar with linguistics and Latin. For example, for a long time, "descend" (de- + scend) was thought to be made of des- and cend, hence it was also spelled dis- and dys-.

Spelling

Due to assimilation[?], the roots of some of the English verbs listed here are difficult to recognize. For example, ad- + ludo ("play") results in allude rather than *adlude. On the other hand, once a learner knows the rule they are less likely to make spelling mistakes: That the word aggressive is spelt with gg is due to the fact that it derives from ad + gredior, with -dg-, as it is more difficult to pronounce, having been turned into the easier -gg- (so that *agressive must be considered wrong).

Latin verbs:

• ago, egi, actus "do", "move"
• cedo, cessi, cessurus "go"
• cludo (claudo), clusi, clusus "close"
• duco, duxi, ductus "pull", "lead"
• facio, feci, factus "make", "do"
• fero, ferre, tuli, latus "carry"
• gradior (gredior) gressus "go", "pace"
• iacio, ieci, iectus "throw"
• ludo, lusi, lusus "play"
• mergo, mersi, mersus "dip (in)", "sink"
• mitto, misi, missus "send"
• pono, posui, positus "put"
• premo, pressi, pressus "press"
• rumpo, rupi, ruptus "break"
• scribo, scripsi, scriptum "write"
• volvo, volvi, volutus "roll"

Latin prefixes:

• a(b)- "from"
• ad- "towards", "in the direction of"
• con- "together", "with"
• de- "away from"
• e(x)- "out of"
• in- "in", "into"
• inter- "between"
• iuxta- "near", "close to"
• ob- "towards"
• prae- "before"
• pro- "onward", "forward", "in favour of"
• re- "again"
• se- "away from"
• sub- "beneath", "under"
• trans- "beyond"

Some examples

	fero	mitto	pono	premo	scribo	volvo
a(b)-	---	---	---	---	---	---
ad-	---	admit admission[?]	---	---	ascribe	---
con-	confer conference[?]	commit commission	compose composition	compress compression	conscribe conscription	convoluted
de-	defer deference	---	depose deposition	depress depression	describe description	devolve devolution
e(x)-	---	emit emission	expose exposition[?]	express expression	---	evolve evolution
in-	infer inference[?]	---	impose	impress impression[?]	inscribe inscription[?]	involve involvement
inter-	interfere interference	intermittent	---	---	---	---
iuxta-	---	---	juxtapose juxtaposition	---	---	---
ob-	offer	omit omission[?]	oppose opposition[?]	oppress oppression	---	---
prae-	prefer preference	---	---	---	prescribe prescription	---
pro-	---	---	propose proposal[?]	---	proscription[?]	---
re-	refer relate	remit remission[?]	repose	repress repression	---	revolve revolver, revolution
se-	---	---	---	---	---	---
sub-	suffer	submit submission	suppose supposition	suppress suppression	subscribe subscription[?]	---
trans-	transfer translate	transmit transmission	transpose	---	transcribe transcription	---

See also:

• Latin
• Latin lexicon
• verb
• affix, suffix, prefix
• morphology
• morpheme