Prefijos y preposiciones: dimensión histórica de contra-

Abstract

This paper investigates the history of the prefix contra- from Latin to current Spanish and focuses on the patterns of neological prefixed words throughout their evolution. The analysis takes into account the relationship between the prefix and its analogous preposition in their historical development. It is shown that Old Spanish inherits some prefixed verbs from Classical and Late Latin, that are strongly lexicalized forms, and on the other hand takes some prefixed nouns from other Modern Romance languages (such as French, Italian and Catalan). The most productive stages are the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when prefixed nouns proliferate. According to the distinction between satellite-framed and verbal-frame languages made by Talmy (1985, 2000), it is also argued that the diachronic variation of the patterns from prefixed verbs to nouns is a consequence of a typological change that takes place in the evolution of Latin (a satellite-framed language) to Romance (a verbal-frame language).