| 释义 |
▪ I. in-, prefix1
the prep. and adv. in, in combination with verbs, verbal derivatives, and other words. In original compound verbs, unaccented in- passed in WS. into on- (cf. in prep., General Sense): e.g. Goth. inliuhtjan, OHG. inliuhten, OE. onliehtan to enlighten, illuminate; Goth. intandjan, OE. ontęndan to set on fire, Goth. inwandjan, OE. onwęndan to turn, change. In such of these verbs as survived in ME., on- was normally reduced to a-. But, in late OE., numerous new verbs in in- appeared as glosses or literal renderings of Latin verbs in in-, e.g. inbláwan = L. inflāre, inspīrāre to blow in, inbringan = L. inferre to bring in, inlǽdan = L. introdūcĕre to lead in. The formation of these in similar circumstances continued in ME. to the close of the 14th c., when numerous examples occur in Wyclif. Among the ME. examples are inclepe, L. invocāre to call in, indelve, L. infodĕre to dig in, inȝette, L. infundĕre to pour in, inloȝe, L. inflammāre to inflame, inwlappen, L. involvĕre to enwrap, inwrite, L. inscrībĕre to inscribe. Few or none of these verbs have survived into mod. English. In OE. the adv. inn, in, was also freely used in collocation with verbs of motion or change of state. The position of the adv. was, with the finite tenses, variable; in the infinitive it generally stood before the vb., and in derived verbal ns. and adjs. always so. In this position the adv. came at length to be written in combination with the vb., e.g. income-n, incoming, income n., indwelle-n, indwelling, indweller, etc. In the infinitive and other verbal forms in- remained movable, and is now regularly placed after the verb, as in come in, go in, call in, lead in, etc.; but the derived ns. and adjs. in which the position of in- was invariable, have become regular compounds with stress on in-, thus incoming, income, incomer (beside come in), indwelling, indweller (beside dwell in), inlet, insight, intake, etc. See in adv. 11. (Cf. the parallel case of German verbs with movable prefixes, as eingehen, einzugehen, eingegangen, gehe ein, er geht ein, wenn er eingeht, eingang, eingehend; eingeben, eingeber; etc.) There are also various other formations, OE., ME., or modern, in which this prefix occurs, usually with the sense ‘in, within, internal’, e.g. OE. inᵹehyᵹd, inᵹeþanc internal thought, intent, inland demesne land, ME. inwit conscience; mod. inborn, inside, inward, etc. In a few instances prepositional phrases with in- have given rise to attributive combinations, as in-college residents, in-door occupations.
As to the blending of this prefix and in- prefix2 in later use, see at the end of the latter. b. Geom. Representing inscribed ppl. a. 3, as in in-centre, in-circle, in-sphere.
▪ II. in-, prefix2
repr. L. in- adv. and prep., used in combination with verbs or their derivatives, less commonly with other parts of speech, with the senses ‘into, in, within; on, upon; towards, against’, sometimes expressing onward motion or continuance, sometimes intensive, sometimes transitive, and in other cases with little appreciable force.
Form-history. In earlier L., in- was generally retained unchanged before all consonants; but in later times it was assimilated to the following consonant, becoming il- before l, im- before a labial, ir- before r. These changes are retained in Eng.: e.g. il-late, im-bue, im-mit, im-pel, ir-radiate: see il-1, im-1, ir-1. In OF., in inherited words, in-, im-, became en-, em-; but learned words derived or formed from L., esp. in later times, regularly retained in-, im-. The French words were adopted in Eng. in their current form; but from the 14th c. onward, there was a growing tendency in words in which the L. derivation was evident, to change en-, em- back to L. in-, im-, as in the words of learned origin. This was even extended to some words which were not obviously, or not at all of L. origin, including some of those in which en-, em- was, as a living formative, prefixed to radicals of OE. or other origin. (See en-.) Conversely, some words directly from L. were formed with the French en-, em-. Hence, a large number of words occur in the 15th and 16th c. with both forms of the prefix, and some have retained both forms to the present day, either with no distinction of sense, as in enclose, inclose, enquire, inquire, or with differentiation of use, as ensure, insure. The general tendency (though with numerous exceptions) has been to establish in-, im-, in words evidently derived from L., reserving en-, em-, for words formed in French and not having a L. type, or in which the L. type is disguised by phonetic change, and for words formed in Eng. on the analogy of these. In this Dictionary, current words are placed under their usual form, whether in- (im-) or en- (em-), or, in unsettled cases, in that which, on grounds of etymology or analogy, appears to be the preferable form; obsolete words have been dealt with on the same principles, and cross-references have been given to the form under which each word is treated.
Since in-1 and in-2 are identical in form, and to a great extent in sense, they come in later use to be felt as one and the same prefix; and it is this resulting prefix which appears in many words of later formation, formed upon native substantives or adjectives, in which in-, im-, has affinities at once with the prefix en-, em-, from French, and with OE. in-.
▪ III. in-, prefix3
the Lat. in-, cognate with Gr. α-, αν-, Com. Teut. un-, prefixed to adjs. and their derivatives, rarely to other words, to express negation or privation; as fēlix happy, infēlix unhappy, utilis useful, inutilis useless, nocēns hurtful, innocēns unhurtful, innocent, doctus learned, indoctus unlearned. In earlier Latin, in- was used before all consonants, but in later times was subjected to the same assimilations as in-2, as in il-litterātus illiterate, im-mensus unmeasured, immense, ir-regulāris without rule, irregular, and was besides reduced to i- before gn, as in i-gnārus ignorant; i-gnōscĕre not to take cognizance of, to overlook, forgive. In a few OF. words, L. in- became en- as in in-2, e.g. inimīcus, OF. enemi enemy, L. invidia, OF. envie envy; but most French words containing this prefix are of learned formation, and retain L. in- (il-, im-, ir-); as is the case also in Eng. with words derived either through French, or from L. direct. In Eng. in- (il-, im-, ir-) is a living negative suffix for words of Latin or Romanic origin, freely used, even when no corresponding formation appears in Latin; in this use it interchanges to some extent with the OE. negative un-, which is used in native or thoroughly naturalized words, e.g. incautious, uncautious, in-, un-ceremonious, in-, un-certain, in-, un-communicative, in-, un-devout, in-, un-distinguishable. In such cases the practice in the 16th and 17th c. was to prefer the form with in-, e.g. inaidable, inarguable, inavailable, but the modern tendency is to restrict in- to words obviously answering to Latin types, and to prefer un- in other cases, as in unavailing, uncertain, undevout.
▪ IV. in-, prefix4
of Teut. origin, prefixed to OE. and ME. adjs., with intensive force. In origin akin to in- prefix1, with the sense ‘inly’, ‘intimately’, ‘thoroughly’, and hence ‘exceedingly’, ‘very’. Examples: OE. indryhten most noble, infród very wise, inhold thoroughly loyal; ME. inred deep red. (On this prefix in the cognate langs., see Hœfer ‘Das intensive in’, in Germania, new ser. III. 61.) |