Just quick thought. (Sometimes I stumble over something ‘quite usual’ and get puzzled ).
In my understanding, ‘re-’ is the prefix that expresses one of the two ideas:
repetition ( :)) (as in redo, reload and re-count)
modification, with an intention to produce better result (as in redesign and redistribute)
The word research is obviously created by re + search , and search isn’t too ‘loaded’ word and has rather ‘a single’ meaning.
(Or maybe I just don’t know something important?)
As a native speaker, I do not sense an “obvious” prefix. When I think of the word research, it is always as a unique word and not as a word with a prefix. Of course the prefix aspect is part of the word’s history, but that’s all it is to me.
No. I don’t know ‘semble’. In contrast to ‘search’
OK. Perhaps, my brain is (are?) too analytical.
Thanks for the link.
By the way, what ‘intensive prefix’ (mentioned in the article you referred me to) means?
Could you give an example of another ‘intensive prefix’?
Just one (the last ) question: does it (what you and Amy said) also relates to ‘re-’ written with hyphen?
There are lots of such words, re-arrest, re-allocate, etc., you know.
Moreover, according to my dictionary, recount and re-count (for examples) are two different words, with different meanings.
I would say that using the hyphen with ‘re’ indicates that the word thus created isn’t in a so-called solid state and we want to keep the ‘repetitive’ element of ‘re’ alive. The case in point is the word you mention- recount / re-count. The first meaning ‘tell a story/give a narrative’ where the word is looked on as a whole and the second meaning ‘count again’ where the two parts are need to be ‘separated’
The point I wanted to make is that many words were originally created by adding a prefix to some other word, but are simply thought of as unique words today. For most people, the idea that a prefix is there is only vaguely in the subconscious – if at all.
For other words, such as the word redo (i.e., do again), the added prefix is truly obvious.
Regarding intensifying prefixes, here is something that seems particularly fitting in view of your knitting thread. :lol: It discusses ravel/unravel and the (old) use of the prefix un- as an intensifier.
An intensive prefix is not a prefix that native speakers no longer recognize as such. It means exactly what it sounds like. It means it intensifies or strengthens the meaning, similar to adding ‘very’ or ‘way’ before an adjective. Another example is inflammable.
There is a difference between Latin and English prefixes, even when they look identical. Re- in research is a Latin prefix, that is, it was already added in Latin long before the English borrowed the word. In- in inflammable is most probably also a Latin prefix.
).
:)) (as in redo, reload and re-count)
