[Lexicog] embiggen

[Hayim Sheynin]

I think more precise function of the prefix en-/em- is to form a causative verb,
  i.e. the verb with the the meaning 'to cause to do something' or 'to cause to become something' (this something relates to the base word, e.g. 'big', 'bold', 'powerful', etc.)
   
  Hayim Sheynin  

John Roberts <dr_john_roberts at sil.org> wrote:
            Yes, it is 'em-' and not 'en-' because of the [b]. You also get 'em-' before [m] and [p], e.g. emmarble and emmesh (but also enmesh), and empanel and empacket. But not before [f] or [v], e.g. enfeeble, enforce and envenom, envision. Here it is 'en-'. So it is a phonological rule to have 'em-' before a bilabial consonant.
   
  My affix dictionary says 'em-' is derived through French from Latin 'im-' and is a combining form of 'in' 'in, into'. It says in English it is often used as an intensifier or as a marker of transitivity. But from the words I have seen that have this prefix it seems to me it means 'to make'. E.g.
   
  embank = 'to make banked'
  embase ~ imbast = 'to debase'
  embattle = 'to arrange for battle'
  embed ~ imbed = 'to make like a bed'
  embitter ~ imbitter = 'to make bitter'
  embolden = 'to make bold'
  embrown ~ imbrown = 'to make brown'
  embusy = 'to make busy'
   
  embiggen = 'to make bigger'
   
  According to my dictionaries many 'em-' words are Shakespearean or Spenserian in origin. So Homer Simpson is not the first to coin new words with 'em-' -- and probably won't be the last.
   
  John Roberts
   
  ***********************************
John R Roberts
SIL International Linguistics Consultant
dr_john_roberts at sil.org
***********************************
   
  

         

 				
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