“This prest was drank and goth astrayede.”

    “Achab to the bottle went. 
    When Benedad for all his shelde
    Him slough, so that upon the felde
    His people goth aboute astraie.”
                              Gower.

=Awake.= “He is awake.”  “Samson awaked out of his sleep.”  “That I may awake him out of sleep.”  “It is high time to awake.”  “As a man that is wakened out of sleep.”  The Irish hold a wake—­they do not sleep the night after the loss of friends.

=Asleep.=

    “When that pyte, which longe on sleep doth tary
    Hath set the fyne of al my heuynesse.”
                              Chaucer, La belle dame, p. 1. c. 1.

    “Ful sound on sleep did caucht thare rest be kind.”
                              Douglas, b. 9, p. 283.

“In these provynces the fayth of Chryste was all quenchyd and in sleepe.”—­Fabian.

A numerous portion of these contractions are nouns, which, from their frequent recurrence, are used without their usual connexion with small words.  The letter a is compounded with many of these words, which may have been joined to them by habit, or as a preposition, meaning on, to, at, in, as it is used in the french and some other languages.  You often hear expressions like these, “he is a-going; he is a-writing; he began a-new,” etc.  The old adverbs which take this letter, you can easily analyze; as, “The house is a-fire”—­on fire; “He fell a-sleep”—­he fell on sleep.  “When deep sleep falleth on men.”—­Job. “He stept a-side”—­on one side.  “He came a-board”—­on board.  “They put it a-foot”—­on foot.  “He went a-way”—­a way, followed some course, to a distance.  “Blue bonnets are all the go now a-days,” etc.

The following extracts will give you an idea of the etymology of these words: 

    “Turnus seyes the Troianis in grete yre,
    And al thare schyppis and navy set in fire.”
                              Douglas, b. 9, p. 274.

    “Now hand in hand the dynt lichtis with ane swak,
    Now bendis he up his bourdon with ane mynt,
    On side (a-side) he bradis for to eschew the dynt.”
                              Idem.

    “That easter fire and flame aboute
    Both at mouth and at nase
    So that thei setten all on blaze,” (ablaze.)
                              Gower.

    “And tyl a wicked deth him take
    Him had leuer asondre (a-sunder) shake
    And let al his lymmes asondre ryue
    Thane leaue his richesse in his lyue.”
                              Chaucer.