Thanks, Chris, sounds right. I haven't come across a negative
connotation for -astro, tho. But I'll keep my ears perked.
Mark
At 09:42 AM 2/3/2006, you wrote:
><snip>
>My stepson was visiting recently, which got me to thinking about the
>word stepson and its friends stepmother, etc. Anyone know the history
>of the prefix? I've come up blank. [MW]
><snip>
>
>The origin is probably with orphans (OE astypan = to deprive; astypte =
>orphans): steopbearn (= orphan) turns up somewhere in Aelfric; other step-
>words (father, mother, son) appear in Alfred' Orosius.
>
><snip>
>The same in Spanish, where it's the suffix astro--hijastro,
>madrastra, padrastro, etc.--sounds like a star's been added on, but I
>can't find its history. [MW]
><snip>
>
>Isn't the -astro/a an -ish, and often slightly negative? (It survives in
>English in poetaster.) Thus in Italian a figliastro/a is a half or a step to
>the speaker, the son or daughter of one's patrigno or matrigna
>(_approximate_ father or mother).
>
>CW
>
>
>____________________________________________________________
>
>I have a great deal of company in my house; especially in the morning, when
>nobody calls. (Thoreau)
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