Test the extent of the intermarriages among these words by successively
attaching each of the prefixes to each of the main (or key) syllables.
(Thus re-ject, re-fer, re-pel, etc.)
In tracing verbal kinships you must be prepared for slight variations in
the form of the same key-syllable. Consider these words: wise, wiseacre,
wisdom, wizard, witch, wit, unwitting, to wit, outwit, twit, witticism,
witness, evidence, providence, invidious, advice, vision, visit, vista,
visage, visualize, envisage, invisible, vis-a-vis, visor, revise,
supervise, improvise, proviso, provision, view, review, survey, vie, envy,
clairvoyance. Perhaps the last six should be disregarded as too
exceptional in form to be clearly recognized. And certainly some words, as
_prudence_ from _providentia_, are so metamorphosed that they
should be excluded from practical lists of this kind. But even in the
words left to us there are fairly marked divergences in appearance. Why?
Because the key-syllable has descended to us, not through one language,
but through several. As good verbal detectives we should be able to
penetrate the consequent disguises; for _wis, wiz, wit, vid, vic_,
and _vis_ all embody the idea of seeing or knowing.
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