| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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Appendix I
Indo-European Roots |
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| ENTRY: | aug- |
| DEFINITION: | To increase. Oldest form * 2eug-, colored to *2aug-. Variant *2weg- becoming *(a)weg-.
Derivatives include nickname, auction, and auxiliary.
1. eke1, from Old English  acan, can, to increase; b. nickname, from Old English aca, an addition. Both a and b from Germanic *aukan. 2. Variant (metathesized) form *weg- (from *weg-), extended to *wegs- (o-grade *wogs-). a. wax2; woodwaxen, from Old English weaxan, to grow, from Germanic *wahsan; b. waist, from Old English *wæst, growth, hence perhaps waist, size, from Germanic *wahs-tu-. 3. Form *aug--. auction, augend, augment, author, authorize, from Latin augre, to increase. 4. augur; inaugurate, from Latin augur, diviner (< “he who obtains favorable presage” < “divine favor, increase”). 5. august, from Latin augustus, majestic, august. 6. Suffixed form *aug-s-. a. auxiliary, from Latin auxilium, aid, support, assistance; b. auxin, auxesis, from Greek auxein, auxanein, to increase. (Pokorny a eg- 84.) |
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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