Famish likely developed as an alteration of Middle English
famen, meaning "to starve." The Middle English word was borrowed from the Anglo-French verb
afamer, which etymologists believe came from Vulgar Latin
affamare. We say "believe" because, while no written evidence has yet been found for the Vulgar Latin word
affamare, it would be the expected source for the Anglo-French
verb based on the combination of the Latin prefix
ad- ("to" or "toward") and the root noun
fames ("hunger"). In contemporary English, the verb
famish is still used on occasion, but it is considerably less common than the related adjective
famished, which usually means "hungry" or "starving" but can also mean "needy" or "being in want."
No comments:
Post a Comment
Authors of comments and posts are solely responsible for their statements. Please email MiddletownInsider@gmail.com for questions or concerns. This blog, (and any site using the blogger platform), does not and cannot track the source of comments. While opinions and criticism are fine, they are subject to moderator discretion; slander and vile attacks of individuals will not to be tolerated. Middletown Insider retains the right to deny any post or comment without explanation.