:—OE. æt-. Representing earlier OE. oþ-, oð-, unaccented form of úð- ‘away, from’ = Gothic unþa- in unþa-þliuhan to flee away, G. ent- (in part). OHG. int-, in entfliehen, OHG. intfliohan, Du. ont- in ontvlieden to flee away. This oð-, oþ-, from úð-, being phonetically leveled with óð- from anð-, and ot- the unaccented form of æt- being assimilated to the latter (see prec.), these three prefixes ran together in form, and when at a later time the accented form æt- took the place of its own weak form ot-, oþ-, oð-, it also usurped the place of oð- from anð-, and oð- from úð-, unþ-. The last of these was by far the most frequent in use: hence the most common sense of at- prefix in ME. is ‘from, away’ = Gothic unþa-, Ger. ent-, as in at-bear to bear away, at-flee to flee away, at-go to go away. As úð-, oþ-, had nearly the same sense as æf-, of-, these verbs in at- often take the place of corresponding vbs. in of-, as OE. oð-beran, æt-beran, = of-beran to bear away, ME. at-come = OE. of-cyman to come off, escape, etc. Several new compounds of this type arose in ME., and it was even irregularly extended to Fr. words, as in ATSCAPE, refashioned from ascape, OF. escaper. All these are now obsolete.
