asunder
ami / 2021'into a position apart, separate, into separate parts,' mid-12c., contraction of old english on sundran (see a- & sunder). middle english for 'distinguish, tell apart.'
'a-' commonly represents 'on, in, into,' as in alive, above, asleep, aback, abroad, afoot, ashore, ahead, abed, aside. intensive 'a-,' originally 'ar-' (cognate with german er- and probably implying originally 'motion away from'), as in abide, arise, awake, ashamed, marking a verb as momentary, a single event. in romanic languages, 'a-' often represents reduced forms of latin 'ad-' 'to, toward; for,' or 'ab-' 'from, away, off.'sundrian, syndrian, or, 'to sunder, separate, divide,' from sundor 'separately, apart,' from proto-germanic sunder (source also of old norse sundr, old frisian sunder, old high german suntar 'aside, apart;' german sondern 'to separate'), from PIE root sen(e)- 'apart, separated' (source also of sanskrit sanutar 'away, aside,' avestan hanare 'without,' greek ater 'without,' latin sine 'without,' old church slavonic svene 'without,' old irish sain 'different').
'the beauty of the world, which is so soon to perish, has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder.'
-virginia woolf
