:—OE. æt-. The preposition AT in composition, with force of ‘at, close to, to’; frequent in OE., and retained in some words in ME., as at-stand(en to stand close to, ‘adstare,’ at-rech(en to reach to, get at, at-fore(n before, at-hind(en behind. In the oldest Eng. the prefix was æt- only when it bore the stress accent (i.e., in sbs. and adjs.); ot-, (oþ-, oð-,) when unaccented (in vbs. and prepositions): thus, æ·tgrǽþe grasping at, apprehensive, otgrí·þan, oþgrí·þan, to grip at, oðbe·ran to bear to, bring, oðíe·wan (Goth. atau·gjan to show). Northumbrian had sometimes æd-, od-: cf. ATEW. The forms oþ, oð, seem to have arisen in an early assimilation of ot- to óþ-, óð-, from anð-, the old accented form of AND-, ond-, occurring in the prep. óð, the meaning of which was not far removed from that of æt-, ot-. But in later OE. the strong form æt- (ME. at-, in south. dial. et-) was extended to all compounds, without regard to the position of the stress. Mod. Eng. has lost all these compounds, exc. that atwí·te survives in twit. Atone is a modern formation of a different kind.
