Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
I-
I-
,pre
fix.
See
Y-
. {
. Y-
, orI-
}[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
y
heere. Chaucer.
Neither to ben
y
buried nor y
brent. Chaucer.
☞ 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.