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Origin and history of prosodemic

prosodemic(adj.)

in linguistics, 1964, with -ic + prosodeme (1940), from Greek proso-, probably meant to be related to pros "toward, to, at, against, near" (see pros-) + -eme.

Entries linking to prosodemic

in linguistics, noted as an active suffix and word-formation element from 1953; from French -ème "unit, sound," from phonème (see phoneme).

Middle English -ik, -ick, word-forming element making adjectives, "having to do with, having the nature of, being, made of, caused by, similar to," from French -ique and directly from Latin -icus or from cognate Greek -ikos "in the manner of; pertaining to." From PIE adjective suffix *-(i)ko, which also yielded Slavic -isku, adjectival suffix indicating origin, the source of the -sky (Russian -skii) in many surnames. In chemistry, indicating a higher valence than names in -ous (first in benzoic, 1791).

In Middle English and after often spelled -ick, -ike, -ique. Variant forms in -ick (critick, ethick) were common in early Modern English and survived in English dictionaries into early 19c. This spelling was supported by Johnson but opposed by Webster, who prevailed.

word-forming element in words of Greek origin meaning "to, toward, before," from Greek pros (prep., adv.), also proti, "from, forth, from (one point) toward (another); furthermore; in the face of," from PIE *proti- (source also of Sanskrit prati "to, against").

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