aby

See also: Aby and ABY

Translingual

Symbol

aby

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Aneme Wake.

English

Alternative forms

• abye, abuy, abie

Etymology

From Middle English abyen, abien, abiggen, from Old English ābyċġan (“to buy; pay for; buy off; requite; recompense; redeem; perform; execute”), from Proto-Germanic *uzbugjaną, equivalent to a- +‎ buy. Cognate with Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌱𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (usbugjan). Not related to abide.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /əˈbaɪ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

Verb

aby (simple past and past participle abought, no other forms attested in Modern English)

1. (transitive)
   1. (archaic) To pay the penalty for (something); to atone for, to make amends. [from 12th c.]

      Synonym: make up

      • 1607 (first performance), [Francis Beaumont], The Knight of the Burning Pestle, London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Walter Burre, […], published 1613, →OCLC, Act III, signature G, recto:

        Foole-hardy Knight, full soone thou shalt aby / This fond reproach, thy body will I hang, [Hee takes down / his pole.] / And loe vpon that string thy teeth shall hang: Prepare thy selfe, for dead soone shalt thou bee

   2. (archaic, figuratively) To pay (something) as a penalty, to atone for; to suffer (something). [from 12th c.]

      Synonym: sustain

      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 38, page 455:

        Who dyes the vtmoſt dolor doth abye, / But who that liues, is lefte to waile his loſſe: / So life is loſſe, and death felicity.

      • 1870, William Morris, “February: Bellerophon in Lycia”, in The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, part IV, London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], →OCLC, page 339:

        We doubt thee not; / Thy tale seems true, nor dost thou glorify / Thyself herein—certes thou wouldst abye / A heavy fate if thou shouldst lie herein— […]

   3. (obsolete except Scotland) To endure or tolerate (something); to experience. [from 16th c.]

      Synonyms: brook, go on, hold on, put up with; see also Thesaurus:persist, Thesaurus:tolerate

      • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Wood by Silvermills”, in Catriona, London, Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 131:

        The muckle black deil was father to the Frasers, a'body kens that; and as for the Gregara, I never could abye the reek of them since I could stotter on two feet.

   4. (obsolete) To pay for (something); to buy. [12th–16th c.]

      Synonyms: procure, purchase; see also Thesaurus:buy

2. (intransitive, obsolete)
   1. To pay the penalty; to atone. [12th–16th c.]

      Synonyms: expiate, propitiate

   2. To endure; to remain. [14th–16th c.]
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 3, pages 494–495:

        So long as breath, and hable puiſſaunce / Did natiue corage vnto him ſupply, / His pace he freſhly forward did aduaunce, / And carried her beyond all ieopardy, / But nought that wanteth reſt, can long aby.

Usage notes

The verb is almost always encountered with a modal verb, as in shall aby, could aby, etc. The gerund abuying of the alternative spelling abuy is found in one text; see that entry.

Anagrams

• Bay, YBA, bay

Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Old Czech aby, from Proto-Slavic *aby. By surface analysis, univerbation of a +‎ by.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈabɪ]

Particle

aby

1. Denotes desire or wish; if only; had better

   Synonyms: kdyby, kéž by

   Už aby tu byli. ― I can't wait for them to come..

   Jenom aby! ― Let's hope!

Conjunction

aby

1. so that, in order to, so

Inflection

	singular	plural
1st person	abych	abychom
2nd person	abys	abyste
3rd person	aby	aby

Further reading

• aby in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• aby in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

Univerbation of až (“that”) +‎ by (“would”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈabɨ/

Verb

aby (defective, invariable)

1. that… would

Further reading

• Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “aby”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
• Starosta, Manfred (1999) “aby”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Old Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *aby. By surface analysis, univerbation of a +‎ by.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈabɨ/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈabi/

Particle

aby

1. Denotes desire or wish; if only; had better

Conjunction

aby

1. Introduces a subordinate clause expressing doubt.
2. Introduces a subordinate clause with subjunctive meaning; let, may
3. so that, in order to
4. Introduces a subordinate clause with admissive meaning; even if, though

Inflection

	singular	dual	plural
1st person	abych	abychově (-va)	abychom (-me/-my)
2nd person	aby	abysta (-šta)	abyste (-šte)
3rd person	aby	aby, abysta (-šta)	aby, abychu

Descendants

• Czech: aby

References

• Jan Gebauer (1903–1916) “aby”, in Slovník staročeský (in Czech), Prague: Česká grafická společnost "unie", Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění

Old Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *aby. By surface analysis, univerbation of a +‎ by. First attested in the 15th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /abɨ/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /abɨ/

Conjunction

aby

1. to, in order to, so that (connects sentences either to express the goal of a speaker, when the speaker wishes to communicate a command or wish) [+past tense = to do what]
2. even though, although
3. if

Particle

aby

1. may, I wish, if only

Descendants

• Masurian: abi
• Polish: aby
• Silesian: aby

References

• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, editor (2011–2015), “aby”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish aby. By surface analysis, univerbation of a +‎ by.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.bɨ/
• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈa.bɨ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -abɨ
• Syllabification: a‧by

Conjunction

aby

1. to, in order to, so that (connects sentences either to express the goal of a speaker, when the speaker wishes to communicate a command or wish) [+past tense = to do what]

   Synonyms: by, żeby, ażeby

   Mówię po to, aby nie było cicho. ― I am speaking so that it isn't quiet.

   Chcę, abyś jutro przyszedł. ― I want you to come tomorrow.

2. to (used to connect a sequence of actions) [+infinitive = to do what]

   Synonyms: by, żeby, ażeby

   Usiadł, aby znowu wstać. ― He sat down to get right back up again.

3. so long as (used to express a wish for anything) [+past tense = to do what]

   Zrób to byle jak, aby szybciej ― Do it any which way, as long as it's faster.

4. just to, for the sake of

   Czytał aby czytał ― He read just to read

Declension

Combined forms of aby

	singular	plural
1st person	abym	abyśmy
2nd person	abyś	abyście
3rd person	aby	aby

Particle

aby

1. (colloquial) expresses the speaker's certainty of their statement; happen to, isn't?

   Near-synonyms: czasami, czasem, przypadkiem

   Aby tam będzie? ― Do you really think he'll be there?

Derived terms

adverbs

• aby zbyć
• aby-aby

 

conjunction

• (Middle Polish) abyć

 

preposition

• aby do

 

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), aby is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 110 times in scientific texts, 81 times in news, 113 times in essays, 89 times in fiction, and 37 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 430 times, making it the 108th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

Further reading

• aby in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• aby in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “aby”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
• “ABY”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 07.05.2008
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “aby”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎^[1], volume 1, page 3
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “aby”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861‎^[2]
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “aby”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎^[3] (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 4

Scots

Adverb

aby

1. Doric form of abye (“ago, past”)

References

• “aby” in Eagle, Andy, editor, The Online Scots Dictionary^[4], 2016.

Silesian

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish aby. By surface analysis, univerbation of a +‎ by.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈabɨ/
• Rhymes: -abɨ
• Syllabification: a‧by

Conjunction

aby

1. denotes aim or goal; to, in order to

   Synonyms: ażby, by, coby, iżeby, żeby

Further reading

• aby in silling.org