During the Middle Ages, the prefix ge- was widely used in German, appearing in nouns, adjectives and verbs. These composed forms usually existed alongside their simple, unprefixed counterparts. Yet although the various compositional values are not difficult to determine for nouns, the same is not true of verbs. What was the function of ge- when used as a verbal prefix? Is it possible to link this non-nominal ge- to its nominal double, and to examine if the “unifying-and-totalizing” value of ge- (in nouns) also applies to verbs?
