It is very common in Indo-European languages to derive new compound verb forms from verb bases
by adding prefixes to them. These prefixes or preverbs are originally derived from invariant
forms and generally come from one of three categories: adverbs adpositions (prepositions or
postpositions) and inseparable particles. Preverbs and Idiomatization in Gothic focuses on
these attributes of the Gothic language. The use of preverbs in Gothic is quite extensive in
that over half of the verbs in Gothic show prefixation. Of the many stems that have preverbs
attached some alter the meaning of the original verb while others do not appear to change the
meaning significantly. This book examines the use of preverbs in Gothic with the specific
focus on significant meaning changes or idiomatization in which the resultant form does not
mean simply the sum of its parts but takes on a new meaning that may or may not be clearly
related to the meanings of the original forms.
