aby
Translingual[edit]
Symbol[edit]
aby
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English abyen, abien, abiggen, from Old English ābyċġan (“to buy; pay for; buy off; requite; recompense; redeem; perform; execute”), from Proto-Germanic *uzbugjaną, equivalent to a- + buy. Cognate with Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌱𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (usbugjan).[1] Not related to abide.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /əˈbaɪ/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪ
Verb[edit]
aby (simple past and past participle abought, no other forms attested in Modern English)
- (transitive)
- (archaic) To pay the penalty for (something); to atone for, to make amends. [from 12th c.]
- Synonym: make up
- 1607 (first performance), [Francis Beaumont], The Knight of the Burning Pestle, London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Walter Burre, […], published 1613, →OCLC, Act III, signature G, recto:
- Foole-hardy Knight, full soone thou shalt aby / This fond reproach, thy body will I hang, [Hee takes down / his pole.] / And loe vpon that string thy teeth shall hang: Prepare thy selfe, for dead soone shalt thou bee
- (archaic, figurative) To pay (something) as a penalty, to atone for; to suffer (something). [from 12th c.]
- Synonym: sustain
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 38, page 455:
- Who dyes the vtmoſt dolor doth abye, / But who that liues, is lefte to waile his loſſe: / So life is loſſe, and death felicity.
- 1870, William Morris, “February: Bellerophon in Lycia”, in The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, part IV, London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], →OCLC, page 339:
- We doubt thee not; / Thy tale seems true, nor dost thou glorify / Thyself herein—certes thou wouldst abye / A heavy fate if thou shouldst lie herein— […]
- (obsolete except Scotland) To endure or tolerate (something); to experience. [from 16th c.][2]
- Synonyms: brook, go on, hold on, put up with; see also Thesaurus:persist, Thesaurus:tolerate
- 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Wood by Silvermills”, in Catriona, London, Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 131:
- The muckle black deil was father to the Frasers, a'body kens that; and as for the Gregara, I never could abye the reek of them since I could stotter on two feet.
- (obsolete) To pay for (something); to buy. [12th–16th c.]
- Synonyms: procure, purchase; see also Thesaurus:buy
- (archaic) To pay the penalty for (something); to atone for, to make amends. [from 12th c.]
- (intransitive, obsolete)
- To pay the penalty; to atone. [12th–16th c.]
- Synonyms: expiate, propitiate
- To endure; to remain. [14th–16th c.]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 3, pages 494–495:
- So long as breath, and hable puiſſaunce / Did natiue corage vnto him ſupply, / His pace he freſhly forward did aduaunce, / And carried her beyond all ieopardy, / But nought that wanteth reſt, can long aby.
- To pay the penalty; to atone. [12th–16th c.]
References[edit]
- ^ Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “aby”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 11.
- ^ “aby, v.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
Anagrams[edit]
Czech[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Inherited from Old Czech aby, from Proto-Slavic *aby. By surface analysis, univerbation of a + by.
Pronunciation[edit]
Particle[edit]
aby
- Denotes desire or wish; if only; had better
Conjunction[edit]
aby
Inflection[edit]
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
1st person | abych | abychom |
2nd person | abys | abyste |
3rd person | aby | aby |
Further reading[edit]
- aby in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
- aby in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
Lower Sorbian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Univerbation of až (“that”) + by (“would”)
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
aby (defective, invariable)
Further reading[edit]
- Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928), “aby”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
- Starosta, Manfred (1999), “aby”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag
Old Czech[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Inherited from Proto-Slavic *aby. By surface analysis, univerbation of a + by.
Pronunciation[edit]
Particle[edit]
aby
- Denotes desire or wish; if only; had better
Conjunction[edit]
aby
- Introduces a subordinate clause expressing doubt.
- Introduces a subordinate clause with subjunctive meaning; let, may
- so that, in order to
- Introduces a subordinate clause with admissive meaning; even if, though
Inflection[edit]
singular | dual | plural | |
---|---|---|---|
1st person | abych | abychově (-va) | abychom (-me/-my) |
2nd person | aby | abysta (-šta) | abyste (-šte) |
3rd person | aby | aby, abysta (-šta) | aby, abychu |
Descendants[edit]
- Czech: aby
References[edit]
- Jan Gebauer (1903–1916), “aby”, in Slovník staročeský (in Czech), Prague: Česká grafická společnost "unie", Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění
Old Polish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Inherited from Proto-Slavic *aby. By surface analysis, univerbation of a + by. First attested in the 15th century.
Pronunciation[edit]
Conjunction[edit]
aby
- to, in order to, so that (connects sentences either to express the goal of a speaker, when the speaker wishes to communicate a command or wish) [+past tense = to do what]
- even though, although
- if
Particle[edit]
aby
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]
- K. Nitsch, editor (1953), “aby”, in Słownik staropolski (in Old Polish), volume 1, Warsaw: Polish Academy of Sciences, page 10
Polish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Inherited from Old Polish aby. By surface analysis, univerbation of a + by. [1]
Pronunciation[edit]
Conjunction[edit]
aby
- to, in order to, so that (connects sentences either to express the goal of a speaker, when the speaker wishes to communicate a command or wish) [+past tense = to do what]
- to (used to connect a sequence of actions) [+infinitive = to do what]
- so long as (used to express a wish for anything) [+past tense = to do what]
- Zrób to byle jak, aby szybciej ― Do it any which way, as long as it's faster.
- (colloquial) introduces doubt from the speaker
- Aby tam będzie? ― Do you really think he'll be there?
- just to, for the sake of
- Czytał aby czytał ― He read just to read
Declension[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
- (Middle Polish) abyć
Trivia[edit]
According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), aby is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 110 times in scientific texts, 81 times in news, 113 times in essays, 89 times in fiction, and 37 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 430 times, making it the 108th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.[2]
References[edit]
- ^ K. Nitsch, editor (1953), “aby”, in Słownik staropolski (in Old Polish), volume 1, Warsaw: Polish Academy of Sciences, page 10
- ^ Ida Kurcz (1990), “aby”, in Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej [Frequency dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), volume 1, Kraków; Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, page 1
Further reading[edit]
- aby in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- aby in Polish dictionaries at PWN
- “aby”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish], 2010-2023
- “ABY”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 07.05.2008
- Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807-1814), “aby”, in Słownik języka polskiego, volume 1, page 3
- Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “aby”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
- J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “aby”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 4
Scots[edit]
Adverb[edit]
aby
References[edit]
- “aby” in Eagle, Andy, editor, The Online Scots Dictionary[1], 2016.
Silesian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Inherited from Old Polish aby. By surface analysis, univerbation of a + by.
Pronunciation[edit]
Conjunction[edit]
aby
Further reading[edit]
- aby in silling.org
- Translingual lemmas
- Translingual symbols
- ISO 639-3
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms prefixed with a-
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/aɪ
- Rhymes:English/aɪ/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with obsolete senses
- Scottish English
- English intransitive verbs
- English three-letter words
- Czech terms inherited from Old Czech
- Czech terms derived from Old Czech
- Czech terms inherited from Proto-Slavic
- Czech terms derived from Proto-Slavic
- Czech univerbations
- Czech terms with IPA pronunciation
- Czech lemmas
- Czech particles
- Czech terms with usage examples
- Czech conjunctions
- Lower Sorbian univerbations
- Lower Sorbian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Lower Sorbian lemmas
- Lower Sorbian verbs
- Lower Sorbian defective verbs
- Old Czech terms inherited from Proto-Slavic
- Old Czech terms derived from Proto-Slavic
- Old Czech univerbations
- Old Czech terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old Czech lemmas
- Old Czech particles
- Old Czech conjunctions
- Old Polish terms inherited from Proto-Slavic
- Old Polish terms derived from Proto-Slavic
- Old Polish univerbations
- Old Polish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old Polish lemmas
- Old Polish conjunctions
- Old Polish particles
- Polish terms derived from Proto-Slavic
- Polish terms inherited from Proto-Slavic
- Polish terms inherited from Old Polish
- Polish terms derived from Old Polish
- Polish univerbations
- Polish 2-syllable words
- Polish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Polish terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Polish/abɨ
- Rhymes:Polish/abɨ/2 syllables
- Polish lemmas
- Polish conjunctions
- Polish terms with usage examples
- Polish colloquialisms
- Scots lemmas
- Scots adverbs
- Doric Scots
- Scots 2-syllable words
- Silesian terms derived from Proto-Slavic
- Silesian terms inherited from Proto-Slavic
- Silesian terms inherited from Old Polish
- Silesian terms derived from Old Polish
- Silesian univerbations
- Silesian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Silesian/abɨ
- Rhymes:Silesian/abɨ/2 syllables
- Silesian lemmas
- Silesian conjunctions