CLASS II.—THE LATIN PREFIXES.
The primitives or radicals to which these are prefixed, are not many of them employed separately in English. The final letter of the prefix Ad, Con, Ex, In, Ob, or Sub, is often changed before certain consonants; not capriciously, but with uniformity, to adapt or assimilate it to the sound which follows.
1. A, AB, or ABS, means From, or Away: as, a-vert, to turn from, or away; ab-duce, to lead from; ab-duction, a carrying-away; ab-stract, to draw from, or away.
2. AD,—forming ac, af, al, an, ap, as, at,—means To, or At: as, ad-vert, to turn to; ac-cord, to yield to; af-flux, a flowing-to; al-ly, to bind to; an-nex, to link to; ap-ply, to put to; as-sume, to take to; at-test, to witness to; ad-mire, to wonder at.
3. ANTE means Fore, or Before: as, ante-past, a fore-taste; ante-cedent, foregoing, or going before; ante-mundane, before the world; ante-date, to date before.
4. CIRCUM means Round, Around, or About: as circum-volve, to roll round; circum-scribe, to write round; circum-vent, to come round; circum-spect, looking about one's self.
5. CON,—which forms com, co, col, cor,—means Together: as, con-tract, to draw together; compel, to drive together; co-erce, to force together; col-lect, to gather together; cor-rade, to rub or scrape together; con-junction, a joining-together.
6. CONTRA, or CONTRO, means Against, or Counter: as, contra-dict, to speak against; contra-vene, to come against; contra-mure, countermure; contro-vert, to turn against.
7. DE means Of, From, or Down: as, de-note, to be a sign of; de-tract, to draw from; de-pend, to hang down; de-press, to press down; de-crease, to grow down, to grow less.
8. DIS, or DI, means Away, or Apart: as, dis-pel, to drive away; dis-sect, to cut apart; di-vert, to turn away.