# a-  in  aspire



## malan

Hi there,

Is the prefix 'a-' means 'not' or 'emphasize' or anything else in 'aspire'?

Thank you


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## Miss Julie

The 'a' in "aspire" is not a prefix.


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## malan

Miss Julie said:


> The 'a' in "aspire" is not a prefix.


so what's it?


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## Miss Julie

Miss Julie said:


> The 'a' in "aspire" is not a prefix.





malan said:


> so what's it?



It is simply the first letter of the word.


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## malan

Miss Julie said:


> It is simply the first letter of the word.


OMG of course it has meaning, thank you all the same


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## Miss Julie

malan said:


> OMG of course it has meaning, thank you all the same



Why on earth do you think that?


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## malan

Miss Julie said:


> Why on earth do you think that?



I'm an English teacher, I just want to be sure that "a- means without" or '' merely emphatic'',given that _spirare means_ "to breathe"


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## malan

Miss Julie said:


> Why on earth do you think that?


http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=aspire&searchmode=none


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## pob14

Dictionaries such as Merriam are good for these types of questions:



> from Latin aspirare, literally, to breathe upon, from ad- + spirare to breathe



So if it had a prefix, it was "ad," meaning "upon," but the word carelessly lost it while traveling through ancient Rome.  

Edit:  And I see you found it while I was posting.  Well done.


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## malan

pob14 said:


> Dictionaries such as Merriam are good for these types of questions:
> 
> 
> 
> So if it had a prefix, it was "ad," meaning "upon," but the word carelessly lost it while traveling through ancient Rome.
> 
> Edit:  And I see you found it while I was posting.  Well done.


Are you sure?  As far as I saw onthe online dictionary there's no "ad," meaning "upon,"


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## pob14

Well, your cite says "to," and mine says "upon," but those aren't very different when it comes to breathing, are they?  (We don't really breathe "to" someone or something.) The link to "ad-" at your site says "toward," among other things, and says it's a cognate for "at."  So it meant one of those things, I guess.  

As Miss Julie pointed out, it doesn't mean anything now.


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## malan

pob14 said:


> Well, your cite says "to," and mine says "upon," but those aren't very different when it comes to breathing, are they?  (We don't really breathe "to" someone or something.) The link to "ad-" at your site says "toward," among other things, and says it's a cognate for "at."  So it meant one of those things, I guess.
> 
> As Miss Julie pointed out, it doesn't mean anything now.


Thank you sooooo much.


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## berndf

In general prepositions do not translate 1:1 from one language to another. It is quite natural the you find different translationservices depending on context and different translators will ofter find different translationservices even in the same context.

In most general terms the Latin preposition "ad" describes the destination or target of an action.


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## Ben Jamin

There is also:
conspire, from Latin conspirare (breath together)
respire,  from Latin respirare (breath again)
perspire, from Latin perspirare (literally "breath through", but meaning "to breath constantly" )


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## Miss Julie

Ben Jamin said:


> There is also:
> conspire, from Latin conspirare (breath*e* together)
> respire,  from Latin respirare (breath*e* again)
> perspire, from Latin perspirare (literally "breath*e* through", but meaning "to breath*e* constantly" )



Note that *breath* is a noun (rhymes with _death_) and *breathe* is a verb (rhymes with _seethe_).


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## beezneez

Miss Julie said:


> Note that *breath* is a noun (rhymes with _death_) and *breathe* is a verb (rhymes with _seethe_).



 Dang! Don't mess with Miss Julie!


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## Miss Julie

Miss Julie said:


> Note that *breath* is a noun (rhymes with _death_) and *breathe* is a verb (rhymes with _seethe_).





beezneez said:


> Dang! Don't mess with Miss Julie!



Sorry...those were the best rhyming words I could find!


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