資料來源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Y- \Y-\, or I- \I-\ . [OE. y-, i-, AS. ge-, akin to D. & G. ge-,
OHG. gi-, ga-, Goth. ga-, and perhaps to Latin con-;
originally meaning, together. Cf. {Com-}, {Aware}, {Enough},
{Handiwork}, {Ywis}.]
A prefix of obscure meaning, originally used with verbs,
adverbs, adjectives, nouns, and pronouns. In the Middle
English period, it was little employed except with verbs,
being chiefly used with past participles, though occasionally
with the infinitive Ycleped, or yclept, is perhaps the only
word not entirely obsolete which shows this use.
That no wight mighte it see neither yheere. --Chaucer.
Neither to ben yburied nor ybrent. --Chaucer.
Note: Some examples of Chaucer's use of this prefix are; ibe,
ibeen, icaught, ycome, ydo, idoon, ygo, iproved,
ywrought. It inough, enough, it is combined with an
adjective. Other examples are in the Vocabulary.
Spenser and later writers frequently employed this
prefix when affecting an archaic style, and sometimes
used it incorrectly.
I- \I-\, prefix.
See {Y-}.