What does the もて before a verb means?


What does the もて before a verb means?

I found this word in the dictionary <http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-
bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1MDEemphatic%20prefix> (which only says it is an "emphatic
verb prefix" and give no other information on it whatsoever)

I've no idea how it is used / whether it is used / or how to use it




It seems like a rather rare prefix, really. I tried to count all the verbs
that have it in my Kenkyusha dictionary (I could go for a larger one, but I
didn't want rare verbs) and I've got these:

  * もてあそぶ (sometimes in Kanji: 弄ぶ) - _to toy with something or someone_
  * 持て余す - _to be too much_ (especially: too much to handle)
  * もてなす (持て成す) - _to treat_ , _to welcome_
  * もてはやす (持て囃す) 持て囃す- _to extol_

Four verbs in a medium-sized dictionary, that's it. This "prefix" definitely
isn't very productive, and you definitely can't use it with any verbs. In
fact, it's just the first part of a tiny closed list of compound verbs that
come as is. This is different from a productive verb prefix that can be used
to create compounds ad-hoc such as あえて (e.g. in あえて言う _dare to say_ , _go
ahead and say_ ).

Another thing that makes もて different from a regular prefix is that it doesn't
change the meaning of the following verb in a consistent manner. While あえて
always adds the same element of daring, もて isn't simply intensifying all verbs
in the same way. You can probably say it's an intensifier in all the verbs in
my list except for (持て成す), but the intensification works differently in any
place and you can't predict the meaning of the compound verb by just knowing
what the verb joined with もて means.




It seems like a rather rare prefix, really. I tried to count all the verbs
that have it in my Kenkyusha dictionary (I could go for a larger one, but I
didn't want rare verbs) and I've got these:

  * もてあそぶ (sometimes in Kanji: 弄ぶ) - _to toy with something or someone_
  * 持て余す - _to be too much_ (especially: too much to handle)
  * もてなす (持て成す) - _to treat_ , _to welcome_
  * もてはやす (持て囃す) 持て囃す- _to extol_

Four verbs in a medium-sized dictionary, that's it. This "prefix" definitely
isn't very productive, and you definitely can't use it with any verbs. In
fact, it's just the first part of a tiny closed list of compound verbs that
come as is. This is different from a productive verb prefix that can be used
to create compounds ad-hoc such as あえて (e.g. in あえて言う _dare to say_ , _go
ahead and say_ ).

Another thing that makes もて different from a regular prefix is that it doesn't
change the meaning of the following verb in a consistent manner. While あえて
always adds the same element of daring, もて isn't simply intensifying all verbs
in the same way. You can probably say it's an intensifier in all the verbs in
my list except for (持て成す), but the intensification works differently in any
place and you can't predict the meaning of the compound verb by just knowing
what the verb joined with もて means.

