Why do people use "beheaded" shouldn't it be "deheaded"? Why do people do this?
2006-06-27 12:30:15 · 12 answers · asked by disprincess 2 in Social Science ➔ Other - Social Science
yes thank you i spelled GRAMMAR wrong
2006-06-27 14:22:04 · update #1
The reason for this is quite simple. The prefix (in this case de-) comes from Latin. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, (I would provide the link, but the online version is a subscription service. You can find a copy of it in any big library to look it up for yourself though.) the history of this word shows that it was originally from Old English, which did not make much use of Latin. Because the word is so old and was used so frequently, there was no real good reason to change it to use the Latin prefix de-. I know it seems a bit arbitrary and weird, but hey, that's just the way that language is.
2006-06-27 12:41:05 · answer #1 · answered by Archangeleon 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Because English is a funny language and that is what they called it in the beheading days and the term was handed down. And yes you spelled grammar wrong. Use spell check if you care to appear less ignorant.
2006-06-27 19:34:00 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
because they used to have many different ways of killing a person, it was death by hanging, or death by head chopping, so they just started to say, "are they gonna be hanged or be headed?" when the kings ordered a death, the removal of the head was particulary horrid because they believed that the person wondered through all eternity without their heads. Then to save time they just started shouting "behead them!" across the court yards when the crime would warrent such an action!
2006-06-27 19:38:09 · answer #3 · answered by NONAME 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
deheaded sounds better than beheaded, but maybe someone must of had something in their mouth when trying to say deheaded
2006-06-27 19:35:09 · answer #4 · answered by wildernessfox 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because 'be' is not a prefix. Beheaded is a word of itself.
2006-06-27 19:37:42 · answer #5 · answered by oldman 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The be in behead doesn't mean with, like in bejeweled. It's not improper.
2006-06-27 19:35:36 · answer #6 · answered by entivore 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We got it form the Old English beheafdian-be(privative),heafod(head) the act of cutting off the head. Peace.
2006-06-27 20:23:48 · answer #7 · answered by wildrover 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good answer, Brittaniface!
I snorted, even.
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2006-06-27 19:34:16 · answer #8 · answered by theMeganEffect 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Uhmmm.
You spelled 'grammar' wrong.
I've never heard of that before.
2006-06-27 19:32:58 · answer #9 · answered by Brittani♫. 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i dont know but you spelled grammar wrong
2006-06-27 19:33:08 · answer #10 · answered by hary 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋