always
Theme week: all prefixes. Or maybe that would be better written as 'all' prefixes -- words with a prefix that means "all," starting with "all" as a prefix:
always (AWL-wayz, AWL-weez) - adv., at all times, invariably; all the time, continuously; for all time, forever; at any time, in any event.
This form (spelled more like alwei/alwaye) appeared in the 14th century as a contraction of Old English ealne weg, where ealne is the accusative (indicating space or distance) of eall, all, and weg is way -- so literally "all the way." The genitive -s, acting as an adverbial suffix, was added around 1400 (even though it was already an adverb) but alway was retained as an archaism. Other words with al- include almighty ("entirely mighty") and altogether ("completely together").
---L.
always (AWL-wayz, AWL-weez) - adv., at all times, invariably; all the time, continuously; for all time, forever; at any time, in any event.
This form (spelled more like alwei/alwaye) appeared in the 14th century as a contraction of Old English ealne weg, where ealne is the accusative (indicating space or distance) of eall, all, and weg is way -- so literally "all the way." The genitive -s, acting as an adverbial suffix, was added around 1400 (even though it was already an adverb) but alway was retained as an archaism. Other words with al- include almighty ("entirely mighty") and altogether ("completely together").
---L.