Editing Alpha privative (section)

{{Short description|Prefix expressing negation or absence}}
An '''alpha [[privative]]''' or, rarely,<ref>[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=alpha+privative%2Cprivative+a%2C+privative+alpha&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Calpha%20privative%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cprivative%20a%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cprivative%20alpha%3B%2Cc0 Ngram Viewer]</ref> '''privative a''' (from [[Latin]] ''{{lang|la|alpha prīvātīvum}}'', from [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|α στερητικόν}}) is the [[prefix]] ''a-'' or ''an-'' (before vowels) that is used in [[Indo-European languages]] such as [[Sanskrit]] and [[Greek language|Greek]] and in words borrowed therefrom to express negation or absence, for example the English words of Greek origin ''[[wiktionary:atypical|atypical]]'', ''[[wiktionary:anesthetic|anesthetic]]'', and ''[[wiktionary:analgesic|analgesic]]'', as well as the English word of Sanskrit origin [[Ahimsa|''ahimsa'']] (''ahinsa''). 

It is derived from a [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] syllabic nasal *''{{PIE|n̥-}}'', the zero [[Indo-European ablaut|ablaut]] grade of the negation *''{{PIE|ne}}'', i.e. /n/ used as a vowel. For this reason, it usually appears as ''{{lang|grc-Latn|an-}}'' before vowels (e.g. ''[[illiteracy|an-alphabetism]]'', ''[[anesthesia|an-esthesia]]'', ''[[anarchy (word)|an-archy]]'').<ref name="LSJ">{{LSJ|a)1|ἀ|ref}}</ref> It shares the same root with the Greek prefix ''{{lang|grc-Latn|nē-}}'' or ''{{lang|grc-Latn|ne-}}'', in Greek {{lang|grc|νη-}} or {{lang|grc|νε-}}, that is also privative (e.g. ''{{lang|grc-Latn|[[nepenthe|ne-penthe]]}}'').<ref name="LSJ1">{{LSJ|nh1|νη|ref}}</ref>

It is not to be confused with, among other things, an [[copulative a|alpha copulative]] (e.g. ''[[wiktionary:ἀδελφός#Ancient Greek|a-delphós]]'') or the prefix ''{{lang|grc-Latn|an-}}'' (i.e. the preposition ''{{lang|grc-Latn|aná}}'' with [[wiktionary:ecthlipsis|ecthlipsis]] or [[elision]] of its final vowel before a following vowel; e.g. ''{{lang|grc-Latn|[[anode|an-ode]]}}'').