Connection and adjacency

This chapter refers to ‘connection’ as the full meaning of the preposition on. It considers on as the major member of the pairing on/off, stressing that on is far more common than off and has a wider range of meaning as off may refer to a ‘disconnection’. An off correspondent would require contextualization as are some uses of off for which there is no direct counterpart with on, although there may be an indirect link. The chapter details how on functioned as both preposition and adverb in Old English, with a meaning similar to that which it has today. In Middle English, innan ‘inside’ reduced its form and enlarged its sense to become modern-day in, allowing on /On/ to contract to its original meaning.