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Invisible_Swan OP t1_ja55wgv wrote

Reply to comment by cnash in ELI5: Why are native Australians called Aboriginals when in English the prefix "a" usually means "not"- ex Abnormal, atypical, etc? by Invisible_Swan

Weird that two prefixes so close would be so different

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cnash t1_ja56c69 wrote

The prefixes hypo- and hyper-, from the Greek, mean below and above, respectively. Hyponatremia and hypernatremia (too little and too much sodium in the blood) are easily-misspoken medical conditions.

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Carlos-In-Charge t1_ja5674x wrote

Until it’s affixed to abnormal

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azuth89 t1_ja57r6v wrote

Abnormal is more normal in this sense, oddly enough.

"Ab" as a word of its own means from, but ab-the prefix usually means "away from" for whatever reason.

So...abnormal = away from normal. Perfectly sensible.

Ab origines, as two words, means from the beginning. Okay, that tracks.

Aborigines, one word, should mean away from the origin/beginning. Wait...what? It's like we lost the space over the years and because latin is stupid and arbitrary sometimes should have inverted the meaning but we kept using it.

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Invisible_Swan OP t1_ja58m83 wrote

See that's where my logic was coming from. I figured a- on a word that started with a vowel was awkward, hence ab-

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azuth89 t1_ja59xbs wrote

That's usually a- and an- like a-theist vs an-esthesia.

A- and an- are greek rooted and mean "not" as in a total nonexistence or rejection of. Like an atheist believes in zero gods.

Ab- is from latin and means away from, but still existing. Like... absent doesn't mean you don't exist, you're just away from here, absorb means to draw something away from where it is now not to destroy it, etc...

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Invisible_Swan OP t1_ja5ct7v wrote

This is the stuff I wish they taught me in English class.

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azuth89 t1_ja5fyr8 wrote

First time i took the SAT it still had the analogies section. Basically a vocab test and the best way to study for it was prefixes/roots/suffixes.

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breckenridgeback t1_ja5cv5b wrote

They're from different languages.

a- meaning not is from Greek, and is usually attached to other Greek roots: atheist (from Greek theo "god" as opposed to Latin deus), anoxic ("oxygen" is from Gree roots), etc.

ab- meaning "away from" (as in a direction, the opposite of "towards") is Latin, and is usually attached to other Latin roots.

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