Sterling wrote: "Oddly enough in earlier English...I have seen several instances of "to-torn" used to mean not just "torn" but "ripped to shreds."
Here's an excerpt from the 5th century writer Paulus Orosius concerning the sack of Rome by the Goths in 410. The translator may even have been King Alfred: "...ond ealda ceastra ond ealde byrig *towurpon*, ..." .. and they *completely* destroyed old castles (fortresses) and old cities (towns), ... "weorpan" is the German word "werfen" (= throw). The prefix "to" intensifies the meaning of the word (see Sterling's comment above!). They did not only "overthrow" the fortresses and towns, they left complete devestation! As both English and German are Germanic or Teutonic languages, you find lots of these "phrasal verbs" in both languages! Maybe some of the "older" List members remember my post: The Aweful German Language (by Mark Twain!). Best wishes, Bernd ______________________________________________ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
