![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
again (uh-GEN, uh-GAIN) - adv., once more, another time, in addition; back (to a former state or place).
This is an old one, going back to Old English forms āġēan/onġēan/onġeġn, with the range of senses of towards/against/opposite to/contrary to/against/in exchange for/opposite/back/again/anew/also, compounded from on-, on + -gegn against/toward -- a sense that has sort of survived in the construction "but then again $contrary". (At the time, the sense of "another time" was carried by eft, as in eftsoons.)
---L.
This is an old one, going back to Old English forms āġēan/onġēan/onġeġn, with the range of senses of towards/against/opposite to/contrary to/against/in exchange for/opposite/back/again/anew/also, compounded from on-, on + -gegn against/toward -- a sense that has sort of survived in the construction "but then again $contrary". (At the time, the sense of "another time" was carried by eft, as in eftsoons.)
---L.
