SECTION X.—­DERIVATION OF INTERJECTIONS.

Those significant and constructive words which are occasionally used as Interjections, (such as Good!  Strange!  Indeed!,) do not require an explanation here; and those mere sounds which are in no wise expressive of thought, scarcely admit of definition or derivation.  The Interjection HEY is probably a corruption of the adjective High;—­ALAS is from the French Helas:—­ALACK is probably a corruption of Alas;—­WELAWAY or WELLAWAY, (which is now corrupted into WELLADAY,) is said by some to be from the Anglo-Saxon Wa-la-wa, i.e., Wo-lo-wo;—­“FIE,” says Tooke, “is the imperative of the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon verb Fian, to hate;”—­Heyday is probably from high day;—­AVAUNT, perhaps from the French avant, before;—­LO, from look;—­BEGONE, from be and gone;—­WELCOME, from well and come;—­FAREWELL, from fare and well.

SECTION XI—­EXPLANATION OF THE PREFIXES.

In the formation of English words, certain particles are often employed as prefixes; which, as they generally have some peculiar import, may be separately explained.  A few of them are of Anglo-Saxon origin, or character; and the greater part of these are still employed as separate words in our language.  The rest are Latin, Greek, or French prepositions.  The roots to which they are prefixed, are not always proper English words.  Those which are such, are called SEPARABLE RADICALS; those which are not such, INSEPARABLE RADICALS.

CLASS I—­THE ENGLISH OR ANGLO-SAXON PREFIXES.

1.  A, as an English prefix, signifies on, in, at, or to:  as in a-board, a-shore, a-foot, a-bed, a-soak, a-tilt, a-slant, a-far, a-field; which are equal to the phrases, on board, on shore, on foot, in bed, in soak, at tilt, at slant, to a distance, to the fields.  The French a, to, is probably the same particle.  This prefix is sometimes redundant, adding little or nothing to the meaning; as in awake, arise, amend.

2.  BE, as a prefix, signifies upon, over, by, to, at, or for:  as in be-spatter, be-cloud, be-times, be-tide, be-howl, be-speak.  It is sometimes redundant, or merely intensive; as in be-gird, be-deck, be-loved, be-dazzle, be-moisten, be-praise, be-quote.

3.  COUNTER, an English prefix, allied to the French Contre, and the Latin Contra, means against, or opposite; as in counter-poise, counter-evidence, counter-natural.

4.  FOR, as a prefix, unlike the common preposition For, seems generally to signify from:  it is found in the irregular verbs for-bear, for-bid, for-get, for-give, for-sake, for-swear; and in for-bathe, for-do, for-pass, for-pine, for-say, for-think, for-waste, which last are now disused, the for in several being merely intensive.