Old english vocabulary types of word formation in old english

æl- (= MnE "al(l)-") intensifies an adjective: for example ælcræftiġ, "omnipotent, almighty", from cræftiġ, "powerful, skillful".
or- forms privative adjectives from nouns, for example: ordǣle, "having no part in a thing", from dǣl, "share or part"; or orgilde, "unpaid for", from gild, "payment".
un- (= MnE "un-") reverses the meaning of an adjective, as in undēop, "shallow" from dēop, "deep"; or unmōdiġ, "cowardly", from mōdiġ, "brave, noble".
Adverbs formed with suffixes[edit | edit source]
-e forms adverbs from adjectives, as in balde, "boldly", from bald, "bold"; or frōde, "wisely, prudently", from frōd, "wise".
-līċe forms adverbs from adjectives, as in blīþelīċe, "gladly", from blīþe, "happy"; or from nouns, as in ȝēarlíce, "yearly", from ȝēar, "year".
-unga also forms adverbs from adjectives, as in nīƿunga, "anew", from nīƿe, "new".
Verbs formed with prefixes[edit | edit source]
ā- somtimes has the sense of "forth, away", as in ā-drīfan, "to drive away", from drīfan, to drive; or ā-faran, "to depart" from faran, "to go". Very often, however, this prefix seems to have no particular meaning, and does not change the meaning of the verb it's attached to.
be- often seems to have no particular meaning. Sometimes it can imply removal or deprivation, as in beceorfan, "to cut off", from ceorfan, "to cut", or bedǣlan, "deprive", from dǣlan, "to divide". Sometimes it has the sense of "around, about", as in befaran, "to go around, to surround" from faran, "to go"; or beflēogan, "to fly about".
for- prefixed to a verb often gives it the sense of "to destruction", as in fordōn, "to destroy", from dōn, "to do"; or forfaran, "to perish", from faran, "to go". Where the verb already has this sense, it intensifies it, as in forbeornan, "to be destroyed by burning", from beornan, "to burn up". Sometimes it can give a verb a general bad sense, as in forhycgan, "despise", from hycgan, "to think".
on- can have a negative sense, as in ondōn, "to undo, open", from dōn, "to do"; or onbindan, "to untie", from bindan, "to tie". Often, however, it seems to do nothing to the verb at all.
ȝe- can give a verb the sense of success or completion: for example ȝeƿinnan, "to win, to achieve victory over" from ƿinnan, "to fight"; or ȝeacsian, "to find out by asking", from acsian, "to ask". It is because of this perfective sense that ȝe- is so often prefixed to past participles. However, sometimes when it is prefixed to a verb it hardly makes any difference to its meaning.
tō- as a prefix to a verb usually gives it a sense of separation, as in tōdōn, "to separate, divide", from dōn, "to do"; or tōfaran, "to go off in different directions", from faran, "to go".
ƿiþ- has the sense of "against", and so forms verbs such as ƿiþdrīfan, "to repel", from drīfan, "to drive"; or ƿiþsprecan, "to speak against, denounce, revile", from sprecan, "to speak".
ymb- has the sense of "around"; so we get verbs such as ymbscīnan, "to surround with light", from scīnan, "to shine"; or ymbbindan, "to bind around", from bindan, "to bind".
Compound nouns[edit | edit source]
Compound nouns can be formed:

• 
  By compounding two nouns, as in gūþdēaþ, "death in battle", literally "war-death".
  

• 
  By compounding an adjective and a noun, as in nēahbūend, "neighbour", from nēah, "nigh", and būend, "dweller".
  

• 
  By compounding an adverb and a noun, as in ūtgang, "exit", from ūt, "out", and gang, "going, journey".
  

Note that it is important to remove declensional suffixes before using them non-finally in a compound noun. For example, if used alone, the word "nama" - "name", ends in the "-a" declensional suffix. However, compounds such as "nambōc" - "name book", must strip the declensional suffix before using that component.
Compound nouns 'could not' be formed using merely a naked verb stem. Verb stems must have productive suffixes, such as -ung, applied to them, to convert them into a noun, before they could be incorporated in nouns. Incidentally, agent nouns formed productively from verbs using the "-a" suffix (same meaning as Modern English "-er" suffix), would then be stripped of the "-a" when used in non-final compound components, for example "cumlīðness" - "hospitality, comer-kindness". This stripped form looked exactly like the naked verb stem, but it has the meaning of an agent, rather than merely the meaning of the verb stem.