Friday, October 19, 2012
comprehend, apprehend, reprehend
I may be over my head with this one, but I'll give it a shot...(Oh wow, too many English expressions there! 'over my head' means too difficult for me; 'give it a shot' means to try). An English learner I know commented that comprehend, apprehend and reprehend sound similar but their meanings are different, so etymology (the study of the origin of words) may not always be a very helpful tool for English learning. I decided to check this out. These words all end in -prehend, from the Latin prehendere to grasp. Let's take each word: 1) comprehend = to understand, or to grasp with the mind! It also has another meaning of to take in, to include. 2) apprehend from the Latin apprehendere, to lay hold of. Confusingly, apprehend has several meanings. One, maybe most common meaning, is to take into custody, as in "the police apprehended the suspect". prehendere is 'to grasp', also 'to seize', so the police seized the suspect. Another meaning of apprehend is also to understand. (comprehend = apprehend?) Another meaning is to fear. This is more commonly seen in adjective form: 'apprehensive' (fearful). 3) reprehend = to find fault with. It comes from the Latin reprehendere = to hold back or rebuke, itself coming from re + prehendere to seize. I'm taking a wild guess that putting re- on 'to seize' could be seize back, hold back??? Can't think of any more -prehend words...Are there any?
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