into a position apart, separate, into separate parts, mid-12c., contraction of old english on sundran (see a- and sunder). middle english for “distinguish, tell apart.” a- commonly represents “on, in, into,” as in alive, above, asleep, aback, abroad, afoot, ashore, ahead, abed, aside. sundrian, syndrian, or, “to sunder, separate, divide,” from sundor “separately, apart,” from proto-germanic sunder “The beauty of the world, which is so soon to perish, has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder.” – Virginia Woolf