preformativen.adj.
/priːˈfɔːmətɪv/, U.S. /priˈfɔrmədɪv/ A. n.
Linguistics. Chiefly in Semitic languages: a syllable, particle, etc., prefixed as a formative element.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > morphology > morpheme > [noun] > affix > prefix
preposition1565
prefix1646
inchoationa1661
preformant1731
preformative1799
inseparable preposition1820
1799 G. Fitz-Gerald Hebrew Gram. x. 93 In the Future Tense..the Persons are distinguished by..Præformatives.
1820 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 231 Sometimes these occidental words have the oriental preformatives and suffixes, and present a very singular appearance.
1837 G. Phillips Elem. Syriac Gram. 85 The Olaph characteristic of the Aphel conjugation is sometimes retained with the preformatives.
1882 Hebrew Student 1 74/1 Then follow..remarks on..the vowels of the preformatives before gutturals.
1901 J. E. H. Thomson Recent Comm. Daniel 12 There are remains of eastern forms..for instance, the use of the lamed as preformative for the yod in the Substantive Verb.
1950 Jrnl. Near Eastern Stud. 9 77/2 The existence of the preformative mi, me in the other languages makes the derivation of all preformatives mi from me in Hebrew doubtful.
1996 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 116 146/1 Verbs are classified by conjugation..and within each entry, forms without preformatives..are presented first.
B. adj.
1. Linguistics. Chiefly in Semitic languages, of a syllable, particle, etc.: prefixed as a formative element.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > morphology > morpheme > [adjective] > relating to affixes > prefixed or relating to prefixes
prepositive1583
prefixed1633
prosthetic1738
preformative1821
prothetic1833
prefixional1858
prefixal1864
prefixial1893
pre-mutative1899
1821 M. Stuart Hebrew Gram. iii. 79 The præformative afáfixes to the Fut., would appropriately have a Sheva for their vowel-pointing.
1844 Proc. Philol. Soc. 1 269 The Georgian also employs a variety of preformative particles in conjugation.
1891 Hebraica 7 152 Occasional forms of Parts. of derived stems occur without preformative מ.
1912 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 32 141 In Arabic, Hebrew, Moabite, Phenician, and Tigre,..the definite article is indicated by preformative particles.
1951 A. M. Honeyman in H. H. Rowley Old Test. & Mod. Study ix. 281 We may cite the Hebrew noun and verb forms with preformative šin which have their immediate parallel in the Ugaritian causative of šafel type.
1998 Word 49 89 In the discussion of dialectal features in some Koranic versions, it is convincingly shown that the imperfect preformative vowel can be /i/.
2. That shapes, influences, or contains preformed elements of something which follows; (also) of or relating to preformation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > [adjective] > shaping or able to shape > before
preformative1841
1841–8 F. Myers Catholic Thoughts II. iv. §33. 342 The peculiar preformative nature of the Jewish institutions and history.
1854 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 15 ii. 305 Under the supposition that the membrane gives rise to the first production of the Dentine, and is itself obliterated by the process, it has been called the preformative membrane of the dental papilla.
1883 P. Schaff Hist. Christian Church I. iii. xxi. 199 The apostolic Christianity is preformative and contains the living germs of all the following periods, personages, and tendencies.
1922 Jrnl. Philos. 19 379 Nor are the later categories deduced from the earlier; they are found branching from them in the epigenetic, not the preformative way.
1989 Jrnl. Aesthetics & Art Crit. 47 245/1 It is no more than the acknowledgement of the preformative historical practices by which culturally apt individuals first become apt.
2001 A. Wernick A. Comte & Relig. of Humanity i. 9 Comte belongs to the ideological preformation of modern socialism... What is worth highlighting..is precisely what was entailed by this preformative role.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1799