The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud Chapter 2 Page 53

maintain that the oldest languages used the same word for expressing quite general antitheses.

In C. Abel's essay, “Ueber den Gegensinn der Urworter” (1884, the following examples of such words in England are given: “gleam — gloom”; “to lock — loch”; “down — The Downs”; “to step — to stop.” In his essay on “The Origin of Language” (“Linguistic Essays,” p. 240), Abel says: “When the Englishman says 'without,' is not his judgment based upon the comparative juxtaposition of two opposites, 'with' and 'out'; 'with' itself originally meant 'without,' as may still be seen in 'withdraw.' 'Bid' includes the opposite sense of giving and of proffering.” Abel, “The English Verbs of Command,”