as 'mark, sign, or token by which a thing may be known.' From late 14c. that of 'reputation, fame' is from late 14c. Meaning 'notice, attention' is from early 14c. 1300, 'a song, music, melody instrumental music a bird-song a musical note of a definite pitch,' from Old French note and directly from Latin nota 'letter, character, note,' originally 'a mark, sign, means of recognition,' which traditionally has been connected to notus, past participle of noscere 'to come to know,' but de Vaan reports this is 'impossible,' and with no attractive alternative explanation, it is of unknown origin. In modern word-formation sometimes ad- and ab- are regarded as opposites, but this was not in classical Latin.Ĭ. The process went further in England than in France, where the vernacular sometimes resisted the pedantic, resulting in English adjourn, advance, address, advertisement (Modern French ajourner, avancer, adresser, avertissement). Over-correction at the end of the Middle Ages in French and then English 'restored' the -d- or a doubled consonant to some words that never had it ( accursed, afford). In many cases pronunciation followed the shift. in words it had picked up from Old French. In Old French, reduced to a- in all cases (an evolution already underway in Merovingian Latin), but written forms in French were refashioned after Latin in 14c. Simplified to a- before sc-, sp- and st- modified to ac- before many consonants and then re-spelled af-, ag-, al-, etc., in conformity with the following consonant (as in affection, aggression). Word-forming element expressing direction toward or in addition to, from Latin ad 'to, toward' in space or time 'with regard to, in relation to,' as a prefix, sometimes merely emphatic, from PIE root *ad- 'to, near, at.'

Definition of annotate