Aphaeresis (Noun)
Meaning
(linguistics) omission at the beginning of a word as in `coon' for `raccoon' or `till' for `until'.
Classification
Nouns denoting natural processes.
Examples
- Aphaeresis is an example of a linguistic process where the beginning sound or syllable is lost in a word's evolution, as seen in the development of 'cute' from 'acutus'.
- Aphaeresis has led to many changes in English words throughout history, with 'knight' originally being derived from Old English 'cniht' and undergoing aphaeresis to lose its initial sound.
- The term aphaeresis can be applied to words like 'coon', which has come from the truncation of 'raccoon'.
- The process of aphaeresis explains the derivation of 'squire' from the Old French 'esquier'.
- Through aphaeresis, 'villain' evolved from the Old French 'villein', which originally began with a 'vil-' or 'vilain-' root.