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te-

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The prefix te- derives verbs on the basis of other verbs. Verb derivations with te- indicate that the action denoted by the base form has a devastating and irreparable consequence for its object. An example is bite to bite > tebite to destroy by biting. The prefix is mainly accepted by verbs bearing a destructive meaning in themselves. As a result, the addition of te- mainly serves an intensifying purpose. Its use is comparable to the use of the prefix fer-, which is far more productive than te-. The use of te-derivations is mainly restricted to the written language.

General properties
Productivity
Phonological properties

[+]General properties

The prefix te- derives verbs from other verbs. Verb derivations with te- indicate that the action denoted by the base form has a devastating and irreparable consequence for its object. The prefix is mainly accepted by verbs bearing a destructive meaning in themselves. As a result, the addition of te- mainly serves an intensifying purpose. The prefix stresses the damaging effect on the object and is often used to indicate that the object actually becomes worthless. Examples of derivations with te- are listed below:

Table 1

Base form	Derivation
brekke to break	tebrekke to destroy by breaking
barste to burst	tebarste to destroy by bursting
slope to demolish	teslope to destroy by demolishing
gnauwe to gnaw	tegnauwe to destroy by gnawing
raffelje to unravel	teraffelje to destroy by unravelling
bite to bite	tebite to destroy by biting
traapje to step	tetraapje to destroy by stepping
fykje to cut out	tefykje to destroy by cutting

The prefix te- can also be added to verbs which do not have a meaning of destruction in themselves. The implication of destruction is then added by te-. An example is reine to rain > tereine to destroy by raining. More examples are listed below:

Table 2

Base form	Derivation
grieme to spill	tegrieme to destroy
bringe to bring	tebringe to waste (obsolete)
driuwe to drive	tedriuwe to destroy by driving (obsolete)
waaie to be windy	tewaaie to destroy by the wind
skrieme to cry	teskrieme to spoil by crying

In some cases the derivation changes the valency of the base form. This is shown in the examples below:

It reint

it rains

It is raining

De blommen wienen tereind

the flowers were PREF-rained

The flowers were destroyed by rain

De knyn haffele op 'e woartel

the rabbit gnawed on the carrot

The rabbit gnawed the carrot

De knyn tehaffele de woartel

the rabbit PREF-gnawed the carrot

The rabbit bit the carrot to pieces

It is also possible, although not quite common, to construe te- derivations from reflexive verbs. The derivation then denotes that the action named in the base form has a negative consequence for the subject of the verb. An example is bargje to spill > jin tebargje to spill on oneself.

extra

Etymology

Although they have the same form, the prefix te- has a different origin from the word te to(o), which can occur independently as both a preposition and an adverb. The prefix is associated with the Gothic morpheme twis- and the root of the numeral twa two. Its meaning has developed towards in two, in half, broken, apart, separate. The meaning of te-derivations always tends to imply aspects of separation and dissociation. The prefix is a distant relative of the Latin prefix dis-, which is known in Frisian as well.

Originally, te- occurred in all West-Germanic languages. The prefix was commonly used in Old English and Middle English, but in contemporary English the prefix is hardly found. In contrast, in German it has become a very strong element over time. It boomed as zer- (the final segment being a relatively recent addition), under strong influence of the written language and became attached to many simplex verbs, transitive, intransitive and reflexive. In Dutch the verbal prefix te- is only found in the period of Middle Dutch. It is not common anymore in contemporary Dutch. In Frisian the prefix te- has been used since the period of Old Frisian up till now.

[+]Productivity

The use of derivations with te- is restricted mainly to the written language. Its use is comparable to the use of the prefix fer-, which is far more productive than te-. From the verb skuorre to tear apart, for example, one can derive teskuorre or ferskuorre, both meaning to destroy by tearing apart. The difference between the two is that the derivation with te- is stronger and stylistically heavier. Sometimes the verb prefixed by te- seems to be formed on the basis of the fer-verb, with truncation of fer. An example is tebrizelje to shatter, which lacks a base form *brizelje. Therefore, tebrizelje might have been derived from ferbrizelje to shatter. The same applies to a verb mainly found as the adjectively used participle tekankere harmed, eroded, litt. to be riddled with cancer, which might be assumed to be a derivation from ferkankere id.. But there is also a verb kankerje to suffer from cancer, from which it could have been derived as well.

[+]Phonological properties

The prefix is pronounced as [tə]. As it is pronounced with a schwa, the stress in derivations with te- is never on the prefix, e.g. teBREkke to demolish by breaking (see for this effect schwa restriction).

In the dialect spoken on the island of Schiermonnikoog the prefix is still pronounced with a full vowel as [to], written as tò-. A few examples from this dialect are listed below:

Table 3

Base form	Derivation
bane to burn	tòbane to burn down
brakke to break	tòbrakke to break to pieces
heisterje to make a fuss	tòheisterje to damage

extra

Literature

This topic is based on Hoekstra (1998:148), Veen (1984-2011; s.v. te-) and Tamminga (1973:90-93), who also accounts for etymological aspects. For the data from the dialect of Schiermnonnikoog, see Visser and Dyk (2002). More details in Tamminga (1973).

References

Hoekstra, Jarich1998Fryske wurdfoarmingLjouwertFryske Akademy
Tamminga, Douwe Annes1973Op 'e taelhelling. Losse trochsneden fan Frysk taellibben. IIA.J. Osinga
Tamminga, Douwe Annes1973It foarheaksel to- by tiidwurdenUs Wurk22215-222
Veen, Klaas F. van der et al1984-2011Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal - Woordenboek der Friese taalFryske Akademy
Visser, Willem & Dyk, Siebren2002Eilander Wezzenbúek: woordenboek van het SchiermonnikoogsFryske Akademy Ljouwert

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About this article

Author(s): Siebren Dyk, Gerbrich de Jong

Category: Frisian Morphology

Keywords: prefixverb

Version: 1.0, July 2017

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Siebren Dyk	July 2017

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