How did English get related words from the same Latin root but different negative prefixes?

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I see that there is no consistent rule in English for which words use which negative prefix, but in‐ is generally for Latin roots and un‐ is generally for Germanic roots. However, I find it especially surprising that some related English words derived from the same Latin roots use both, eg:

• 
  unmoved and immovable
  


• 
  unstable and instability
  


• 
  undetermined and indeterminate
  


• 
  unvaried and invariant
  

How did this happen historically? Were words with one prefix introduced to English in a different era than words with the other prefix?

etymology negative-prefixes

share|improve this question

edited 6 hours ago

asked 6 hours ago

sondra.kinsey

1285

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Because the guy who was in charge was drunk.
  – Hot Licks
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  And his handwriting was in/un-decipherable
  – Phil Sweet
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @PhilSweet - non-decipherable.
  – Hot Licks
  3 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

favorite

1

I see that there is no consistent rule in English for which words use which negative prefix, but in‐ is generally for Latin roots and un‐ is generally for Germanic roots. However, I find it especially surprising that some related English words derived from the same Latin roots use both, eg:

• 
  unmoved and immovable
  


• 
  unstable and instability
  


• 
  undetermined and indeterminate
  


• 
  unvaried and invariant
  

How did this happen historically? Were words with one prefix introduced to English in a different era than words with the other prefix?

etymology negative-prefixes

share|improve this question

edited 6 hours ago

asked 6 hours ago

sondra.kinsey

1285

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Because the guy who was in charge was drunk.
  – Hot Licks
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  And his handwriting was in/un-decipherable
  – Phil Sweet
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @PhilSweet - non-decipherable.
  – Hot Licks
  3 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

favorite

1

up vote
2
down vote

favorite

1

1

I see that there is no consistent rule in English for which words use which negative prefix, but in‐ is generally for Latin roots and un‐ is generally for Germanic roots. However, I find it especially surprising that some related English words derived from the same Latin roots use both, eg:

• 
  unmoved and immovable
  


• 
  unstable and instability
  


• 
  undetermined and indeterminate
  


• 
  unvaried and invariant
  

How did this happen historically? Were words with one prefix introduced to English in a different era than words with the other prefix?

etymology negative-prefixes

share|improve this question

edited 6 hours ago

asked 6 hours ago

sondra.kinsey

1285

I see that there is no consistent rule in English for which words use which negative prefix, but in‐ is generally for Latin roots and un‐ is generally for Germanic roots. However, I find it especially surprising that some related English words derived from the same Latin roots use both, eg:

• 
  unmoved and immovable
  


• 
  unstable and instability
  


• 
  undetermined and indeterminate
  


• 
  unvaried and invariant
  

How did this happen historically? Were words with one prefix introduced to English in a different era than words with the other prefix?

etymology negative-prefixes

etymology negative-prefixes

share|improve this question

edited 6 hours ago

asked 6 hours ago

sondra.kinsey

1285

share|improve this question

edited 6 hours ago

asked 6 hours ago

sondra.kinsey

1285

share|improve this question

share|improve this question

edited 6 hours ago

edited 6 hours ago

edited 6 hours ago

asked 6 hours ago

sondra.kinsey

1285

asked 6 hours ago

sondra.kinsey

1285

asked 6 hours ago

sondra.kinsey

1285

1285

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Because the guy who was in charge was drunk.
  – Hot Licks
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  And his handwriting was in/un-decipherable
  – Phil Sweet
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @PhilSweet - non-decipherable.
  – Hot Licks
  3 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Because the guy who was in charge was drunk.
  – Hot Licks
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  And his handwriting was in/un-decipherable
  – Phil Sweet
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @PhilSweet - non-decipherable.
  – Hot Licks
  3 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

Because the guy who was in charge was drunk.
– Hot Licks
6 hours ago

Because the guy who was in charge was drunk.
– Hot Licks
6 hours ago

And his handwriting was in/un-decipherable
– Phil Sweet
5 hours ago

And his handwriting was in/un-decipherable
– Phil Sweet
5 hours ago

@PhilSweet - non-decipherable.
– Hot Licks
3 hours ago

@PhilSweet - non-decipherable.
– Hot Licks
3 hours ago

add a comment | 

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

up vote
3
down vote

The negative prefix “in-” is not very productive in English: that is, it’s not used very often to create new negative adjectives. It mainly shows up on words that already existed with this prefix in Latin (and/or in French) before being adapted for use in English.

The adjectives “moved”, “determined” and “varied” were derived in English by the addition of the native English suffix “-(e)d” to the English verbs “move”, “determine” and “vary”. The suffix “-ed” is a sign that these words were not taken directly from Latin adjectives.

In contrast, adjectives ending in “-ble”, “-ate” and “-ant” often do come from Latin adjectives (the corresponding Latin endings in the nominative masculine singular are -bilis, atus and -ans).

share|improve this answer

edited 3 hours ago

answered 5 hours ago

sumelic

42.8k6102202

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

Up until about 1000 years ago, English was a pretty standard Germanic language in the Indo-European family. This means it had a fairly consistent grammar/syntax and a predictable morphology.

Then in 1066, French-speaking Normans invaded and conquered England. The end result was that the nobility spoke French (romance) and the mass populace spoke English (germanic). After a couple hundred years of mixing, the end result is modern English. A very irregular, inconsistent language.

edit: Just to be clear, 'in' comes from French, 'un' is Germanic. They are both used because of the history of English.

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 6 hours ago

Jamie Clinton

6376

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  This answers why English in general is inconsistent but it doesn't mention anything specifically about "un" vs. "in", which is what the question is specifically asking about.
  – Laurel
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  I have noticed, for what it is worth, from working in international companies, that the language group who seem to have the greatest difficulty with selecting "un..." or "in..." are Germans. One colleague could never get away from things like "unpossible" and "inofficial". Having said that the US Declaration of Independence, composed by Thomas Jefferson, I recall referred to "unalienable". It used to be a source of amusement to that same German colleague, that in the USA's first document, the "un" and the "in" got confused.
  – WS2
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

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2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

active

oldest

votes

active

oldest

votes

up vote
3
down vote

The negative prefix “in-” is not very productive in English: that is, it’s not used very often to create new negative adjectives. It mainly shows up on words that already existed with this prefix in Latin (and/or in French) before being adapted for use in English.

The adjectives “moved”, “determined” and “varied” were derived in English by the addition of the native English suffix “-(e)d” to the English verbs “move”, “determine” and “vary”. The suffix “-ed” is a sign that these words were not taken directly from Latin adjectives.

In contrast, adjectives ending in “-ble”, “-ate” and “-ant” often do come from Latin adjectives (the corresponding Latin endings in the nominative masculine singular are -bilis, atus and -ans).

share|improve this answer

edited 3 hours ago

answered 5 hours ago

sumelic

42.8k6102202

add a comment | 

up vote
3
down vote

The negative prefix “in-” is not very productive in English: that is, it’s not used very often to create new negative adjectives. It mainly shows up on words that already existed with this prefix in Latin (and/or in French) before being adapted for use in English.

The adjectives “moved”, “determined” and “varied” were derived in English by the addition of the native English suffix “-(e)d” to the English verbs “move”, “determine” and “vary”. The suffix “-ed” is a sign that these words were not taken directly from Latin adjectives.

In contrast, adjectives ending in “-ble”, “-ate” and “-ant” often do come from Latin adjectives (the corresponding Latin endings in the nominative masculine singular are -bilis, atus and -ans).

share|improve this answer

edited 3 hours ago

answered 5 hours ago

sumelic

42.8k6102202

add a comment | 

up vote
3
down vote

up vote
3
down vote

The negative prefix “in-” is not very productive in English: that is, it’s not used very often to create new negative adjectives. It mainly shows up on words that already existed with this prefix in Latin (and/or in French) before being adapted for use in English.

The adjectives “moved”, “determined” and “varied” were derived in English by the addition of the native English suffix “-(e)d” to the English verbs “move”, “determine” and “vary”. The suffix “-ed” is a sign that these words were not taken directly from Latin adjectives.

In contrast, adjectives ending in “-ble”, “-ate” and “-ant” often do come from Latin adjectives (the corresponding Latin endings in the nominative masculine singular are -bilis, atus and -ans).

share|improve this answer

edited 3 hours ago

answered 5 hours ago

sumelic

42.8k6102202

The negative prefix “in-” is not very productive in English: that is, it’s not used very often to create new negative adjectives. It mainly shows up on words that already existed with this prefix in Latin (and/or in French) before being adapted for use in English.

The adjectives “moved”, “determined” and “varied” were derived in English by the addition of the native English suffix “-(e)d” to the English verbs “move”, “determine” and “vary”. The suffix “-ed” is a sign that these words were not taken directly from Latin adjectives.

In contrast, adjectives ending in “-ble”, “-ate” and “-ant” often do come from Latin adjectives (the corresponding Latin endings in the nominative masculine singular are -bilis, atus and -ans).

share|improve this answer

edited 3 hours ago

answered 5 hours ago

sumelic

42.8k6102202

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

edited 3 hours ago

edited 3 hours ago

edited 3 hours ago

answered 5 hours ago

sumelic

42.8k6102202

answered 5 hours ago

sumelic

42.8k6102202

answered 5 hours ago

sumelic

42.8k6102202

42.8k6102202

add a comment | 

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

Up until about 1000 years ago, English was a pretty standard Germanic language in the Indo-European family. This means it had a fairly consistent grammar/syntax and a predictable morphology.

Then in 1066, French-speaking Normans invaded and conquered England. The end result was that the nobility spoke French (romance) and the mass populace spoke English (germanic). After a couple hundred years of mixing, the end result is modern English. A very irregular, inconsistent language.

edit: Just to be clear, 'in' comes from French, 'un' is Germanic. They are both used because of the history of English.

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 6 hours ago

Jamie Clinton

6376

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  This answers why English in general is inconsistent but it doesn't mention anything specifically about "un" vs. "in", which is what the question is specifically asking about.
  – Laurel
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  I have noticed, for what it is worth, from working in international companies, that the language group who seem to have the greatest difficulty with selecting "un..." or "in..." are Germans. One colleague could never get away from things like "unpossible" and "inofficial". Having said that the US Declaration of Independence, composed by Thomas Jefferson, I recall referred to "unalienable". It used to be a source of amusement to that same German colleague, that in the USA's first document, the "un" and the "in" got confused.
  – WS2
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

Up until about 1000 years ago, English was a pretty standard Germanic language in the Indo-European family. This means it had a fairly consistent grammar/syntax and a predictable morphology.

Then in 1066, French-speaking Normans invaded and conquered England. The end result was that the nobility spoke French (romance) and the mass populace spoke English (germanic). After a couple hundred years of mixing, the end result is modern English. A very irregular, inconsistent language.

edit: Just to be clear, 'in' comes from French, 'un' is Germanic. They are both used because of the history of English.

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 6 hours ago

Jamie Clinton

6376

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  This answers why English in general is inconsistent but it doesn't mention anything specifically about "un" vs. "in", which is what the question is specifically asking about.
  – Laurel
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  I have noticed, for what it is worth, from working in international companies, that the language group who seem to have the greatest difficulty with selecting "un..." or "in..." are Germans. One colleague could never get away from things like "unpossible" and "inofficial". Having said that the US Declaration of Independence, composed by Thomas Jefferson, I recall referred to "unalienable". It used to be a source of amusement to that same German colleague, that in the USA's first document, the "un" and the "in" got confused.
  – WS2
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

up vote
2
down vote

Up until about 1000 years ago, English was a pretty standard Germanic language in the Indo-European family. This means it had a fairly consistent grammar/syntax and a predictable morphology.

Then in 1066, French-speaking Normans invaded and conquered England. The end result was that the nobility spoke French (romance) and the mass populace spoke English (germanic). After a couple hundred years of mixing, the end result is modern English. A very irregular, inconsistent language.

edit: Just to be clear, 'in' comes from French, 'un' is Germanic. They are both used because of the history of English.

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 6 hours ago

Jamie Clinton

6376

Up until about 1000 years ago, English was a pretty standard Germanic language in the Indo-European family. This means it had a fairly consistent grammar/syntax and a predictable morphology.

Then in 1066, French-speaking Normans invaded and conquered England. The end result was that the nobility spoke French (romance) and the mass populace spoke English (germanic). After a couple hundred years of mixing, the end result is modern English. A very irregular, inconsistent language.

edit: Just to be clear, 'in' comes from French, 'un' is Germanic. They are both used because of the history of English.

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 6 hours ago

Jamie Clinton

6376

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

edited 5 hours ago

edited 5 hours ago

answered 6 hours ago

Jamie Clinton

6376

answered 6 hours ago

Jamie Clinton

6376

answered 6 hours ago

Jamie Clinton

6376

6376

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  This answers why English in general is inconsistent but it doesn't mention anything specifically about "un" vs. "in", which is what the question is specifically asking about.
  – Laurel
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  I have noticed, for what it is worth, from working in international companies, that the language group who seem to have the greatest difficulty with selecting "un..." or "in..." are Germans. One colleague could never get away from things like "unpossible" and "inofficial". Having said that the US Declaration of Independence, composed by Thomas Jefferson, I recall referred to "unalienable". It used to be a source of amusement to that same German colleague, that in the USA's first document, the "un" and the "in" got confused.
  – WS2
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  This answers why English in general is inconsistent but it doesn't mention anything specifically about "un" vs. "in", which is what the question is specifically asking about.
  – Laurel
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  I have noticed, for what it is worth, from working in international companies, that the language group who seem to have the greatest difficulty with selecting "un..." or "in..." are Germans. One colleague could never get away from things like "unpossible" and "inofficial". Having said that the US Declaration of Independence, composed by Thomas Jefferson, I recall referred to "unalienable". It used to be a source of amusement to that same German colleague, that in the USA's first document, the "un" and the "in" got confused.
  – WS2
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

1

1

This answers why English in general is inconsistent but it doesn't mention anything specifically about "un" vs. "in", which is what the question is specifically asking about.
– Laurel
5 hours ago

This answers why English in general is inconsistent but it doesn't mention anything specifically about "un" vs. "in", which is what the question is specifically asking about.
– Laurel
5 hours ago

I have noticed, for what it is worth, from working in international companies, that the language group who seem to have the greatest difficulty with selecting "un..." or "in..." are Germans. One colleague could never get away from things like "unpossible" and "inofficial". Having said that the US Declaration of Independence, composed by Thomas Jefferson, I recall referred to "unalienable". It used to be a source of amusement to that same German colleague, that in the USA's first document, the "un" and the "in" got confused.
– WS2
5 hours ago

I have noticed, for what it is worth, from working in international companies, that the language group who seem to have the greatest difficulty with selecting "un..." or "in..." are Germans. One colleague could never get away from things like "unpossible" and "inofficial". Having said that the US Declaration of Independence, composed by Thomas Jefferson, I recall referred to "unalienable". It used to be a source of amusement to that same German colleague, that in the USA's first document, the "un" and the "in" got confused.
– WS2
5 hours ago

add a comment | 

 

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