Dis

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The etymology of dis is interesting. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the chief senses of the prefix dis in Latin and English are:

I. As an etymological element. In the senses:

1. In twain, in different directions
2. Between, so as to separate or distinguish
3. Separately, singly, one by one
4. With privative sense, implying removal, aversion, negation, reversal of action
5. With verbs having already a sense of division, solution, separation, or undoing, the addition of dis- was naturally intensive

II. As a living prefix, with privative force

Forming compound verbs (with their derivative ns., adjs., etc.) having the sense of undoing or reversing the action or effect of the simple verb. Usually formed by the addition of dis- to an existing verb; sometimes, however, formed from a n. or adj. by prefixing dis- and adding a verbal suffix, -ize, -ate, -fy, etc.

One notes that in common English, sense II has become predominant in the public mind. As a result of this, there is a recent move by some in the public to create words by bisecting what they think originated as compound verbs using sense II of dis and using the root as a verb having the opposite meaning to the compound verb.

A fine example of this is the word gruntle. Having forgotten (or never known) sense I of dis (esp. 5) they assume that the etymology of disgruntle is dis+gruntle, with dis causing the opposite meaning of gruntle. We see from the OED that this is not the case:

f. DIS- 5 + GRUNTLE v. freq. of GRUNT.]

trans. To put into sulky dissatisfaction or ill-humour; to chagrin, disgust. Chiefly in pa. pple.

Where gruntle is taken as meaning:

To grumble, murmur, complain.

Hence, gruntled as a back formation of disgruntled, and meaning the opposite of disgruntled, while seemingly clever and based on an understanding of the use of prefixes in forming words, is clearly incorrect. More properly, someone who is gruntled is in an ill humor, however, not in as ill a humor as someone who is disgruntled

Dis is usually a proper name and may mean:

• Dis (Altered Beast) (see Altered Beast), a fictional city in the Altered Beast video game
• Dis (see The Divine Comedy), the fictional city containing the lower circles of Hell; also an alternate name for Lucifer in the same work
• Dis Pater, predecessor of Pluto in Roman Mythology and ancestor of the Gauls according to Roman thought
• Dís, singular of dísir, a group of minor goddesses in Norse mythology
• Dís, a Dwarf belonging to J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth universe
• Pluto (god), as the alternate name "Dīs"
• "Dis" (see Limbo programming language), the virtual machine in the Inferno operating system
• "Dis", the name of mission eight in episode three(Inferno) in the original Doom(PC game).
• "Dis" (see Baator), the second of the Nine Hells in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game universe
• "Dis", an interpreted programming language derivated from Malbolge
• "dis-", the opening theme song of the anime series Infinite Ryvius, performed by Mika Arisaka
• Dis- - a rock trio from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Drowned In Sound a webzine concentrating on new music
• DIS- an acronym for 'Distributed Interactive Simulation' is a standard for conducting real-time platform-level wargaming across multiple host computers.
• DIS an acronym for Deep Inelstic Scattering occuring when two particles scatter and one break up into its constiutents.

Dis may also mean:

• Dissing, (spelt with 2 "s"'s) an African American Vernacular English slang word for "disrespecting"