Apheresis



In phonetics, apheresis ( or, from Greek apo away, hairein to take) is the loss of one or more sounds from the beginning of a word, especially the loss of an unstressed vowel.

Apheresis as a historical sound change
In historical phonetics, the term "apheresis" is often but not always limited to the loss of an unstressed vowel. (The Oxford English Dictionary gives this particular kind of apheresis the name aphesis .)

The loss of any sound

 * English [k]nife pronounced
 * Swedish [st]rand > Finnish ranta "beach"

The loss of an unstressed vowel

 * Greek episkopos > Vulgar Latin [e]biscopu > English bishop
 * English [a]cute > cute
 * English [E]gyptian > Gyptian > Gypsy
 * English [a]mend > mend
 * English [e]scape + goat > scapegoat
 * Old French evaniss > English vanish
 * Old French estable > English stable
 * Old French estrange > English strange
 * English esquire > squire
 * Akkadian Ashuraya > Shuraya

Aphaeresis as a poetic device

 * English it is > poetic ’tis

Aphaeresis in informal speech

 * Spanish está > Familiar Spanish [e]tá > ta ("is")
 * English oath God's truth > Familiar Australian English exclamation strewth