A school manual of English grammar. By W. Smith and T.D. Hall. [With] Key

5. mis-, a-miss

6. un-, not (with Adjectives)

[Rarely found with Nouns: "un-rest" (Shaks.), un-reason" (Scott).]

7. un-, with Verbs, to

denote undoing

what has been

done: Germ. ent

· un-roll, un-fold, un-bend, un-twist.

The following (all meaning, against, in opposition) occur only in isolated words:

and- [Gr. åvτí-]: an-swer ["swar-ian," to swear, affirm]. gain-, i.e. again-st: gain-say.

with- [cf. Germ. wider-]: with-stand, with-hold.

N.B.-A list of Latin prefixes, separable and inseparable, is given at § 199.

§ 195. PRINCIPAL ENGLISH SUFFIXES.-The following are the Principal English Suffixes :—

A. OF NOUNS.

N.B.-Suffixes in Italics, French naturalised.

1. -er, denoting the agent or doer: as, paint-er, speak-er, writ-er, &c.

This Suffix also appears in the forms -ar, -or, -yer: as, beg-g-ar, sail-or [i.e. a seaman: but sail-er, a ship that uses sails], law-yer, saw-yer [these two, according to others, are augmentatives: Angus, p. 133].

2. -ster, denoting a female agent: as, spin-ster, she that works at the spinning-wheel; hence, an unmarried woman. See p. 10.

3. -ee [Lat. -atus, Fr. -é], person to whom a thing is done: passive correlative to -er, -or: trust-ee, mortgag-ee, pay-ee, nomin-ee.

4. -eer, -ier [Lat. arius], characterizing a person by what he has to do with: as, mountain-eer, mutin-eer; halbard-ier, cash-ier.

5. -th

6. -ness

[denoting abstract Nouns: as, length, breadth, wealth [strictly, well-being]; good-ness, sweetness, bitter-ness, &c.

7. ing, patronymic: Athel-ing: and in names of families and places, Pilk-ing-ton, Penn-ing-ton, &c.

8. -kin, Germ. ( Diminutive terminations: as, lamb-kin, Peter-kin, manni-kin ;

9. -ling

10. -ock

11. -et, -1-et

-chen

12. -ie* (-y)

gos-ling, duck-ling;

bull-ock, hill-ock;

pock-et, tick-et, lock-et, buck-et, flask-et ; stream-let, leaf-let, root-let.

13. -ric [Germ. Reich, kingdom], domain, place of authority: as, bishop-ric, archbishop-ric.

14. -dom, termination of abstract Nouns [Germ. -thum]: also, concrete, all that belongs to a title or office: as, wis-dom, free-dom, king-dom, duke-dom, hali-dom [holy state].

15. -hood, state, condition [Germ. -heit] as, boy-hood, girl-hood, maiden-hood.

16. -head, same as -hood: God-head; Old Eng. drowsihed (drowsiness), Spenser.

17. -ard,t-art: characterizing a person by some habit or other peculiarity; often by way of contempt: as, cow-ard, drunk-ard, bast-ard, loll-ard (old form, loll-er); bragg-art, sweet-(he) art (nothing to do with heart, organ of life), Spani-ard, Savoy-ard. 18. -ry, collective, [Germ. -rei], all that belongs to any given notion: as, fine-ry, chival-ry, herald-ry, knighterrant-ry, peasant-ry, Jew-ry.

19. ship, state or office [Germ. -schaft]: as, friend-ship, lord-ship.

*-ie is Lowland Scotch in origin, but much used in forming diminutives of endearment: as, bird-ie, lamm-ie, dogg-ie; especially from proper names: as, Will-ie, Ann-ie, Jess-ie, &c.

This suffix is commonly spoken of as English. Mr. Morris identifies it with the Adj. hard (Hist. Outlines, p. 219). But the frequency of its occurrence in French words is decisive against this hypothesis: compare bâtard, bavard, blafard, braillard, couard, &c. The d is in some words a mere accretion: compare the vulgar pronunciation scholar-d. This termination appears also in names of things: as, stand-ard, tab-ard, gizz-ard.

20. -age,* that which is the result or product of some action: ton-n-age, pound-age, sew-age, lever-age, bond-age, selv-age.

21. -t, passive termination, that which is made or done: as, wef-t [weave], drif-t [drive], gif-t, clef-t, draugh-t [draw].

22. -le, -el, usually an instrument: as, gird-le, hand-le, hurd-le; shov-el, pik-el [Lanc. pitchfork].

[See also feminine terminations, § 27].

The following words exhibit suffixes of less frequent occurrence and more obscure origin: laugh-ter [Germ. Gelächter]; ball-oon, gall-eon [-one, Italian augmentative]; sea-m [from sew: the -m has perhaps the same force as the Gk. -μa, cf. прâу-μа, déр-ua], flood [Germ. Fluth]; wed-lock [lock = A.-S. lac, "play"], know-ledge.

§ 196. B. OF ADJECTIVES:

1. -ful, having much of something: hope-ful, wrath-ful, duti-ful.

2. -ish, rather so ["sub-positive degree," Meiklejohn]: red-d-ish, whit-ish, green-ish, fair-ish.

3. -less [Germ. -los], void of: hope-less, fear-less, god-less. [N.B.-Nothing to do with Adjective less.]

4. -some [Germ. -sam], partaking of a certain quality: glad-some, light-some, lithe-some. So, flot-sam and jet-sam.

5. -y, -ey, of the nature of: ic-y, snow-y, frost-y, clay-ey. 6. -ly, i.e. like god-ly, man-ly, spright-ly. (Also such Adjectives as, god-like, man-like, are used.)

7. -en, made of: wood-en [O. E. tre-en], flax-en, gold-en. 8. -able,† -ible, that may be done eat-able, drink-able, honour-able, aud-ible.

9. -le, denoting a tendency [Lat. ilis]: brit-t-le (easily broken: bryttan, to break), fick-le, id-le.‡

10. -fold, denoting multiplication: two-fold, three-fold, mani-fold.

* -age, of Latin origin, but naturalised and in common use. t-able is a Latin termination naturalised.

Noble, subtle, double, horrible, fragile, and others come direct from the Latin.

11. -ward, denoting direction [Lat. versus]: east-ward, west-ward; to-ward, fro-ward [from-ward]; earthward, heaven-ward. (Almost all used as Adverbs also.)

12. -th, ordinal: four-th, fif-th, six-th.

13. -ing, Participial Adjective active: pleas-ing, try-ing [= vexatious], annoy-ing. [N.B. This termination is much used in forming Compound-Derivative words: as, truth-tell-ing, law-abid-ing, heartrend-ing, &c. See § 186.]

14. -d, -ed, Participial Adjective passive: educate-d, learned, gift-ed.

Some Adjectives in -d, -ed, are formed immediately from Nouns as, horn-ed, wing-ed, bonnet-ed, boot-ed, money-ed, land-ed [gentry], talent-ed (a word of doubtful authority). This termination is also much used in forming Compound-Derived words: as, bright-eye-d, silverfoot-ed, golden-hair-ed, rosy-finger-ed. [See § 186.]

The following words exhibit suffixes of less common occurrence: north-ern, south-ern, &c. [cf. Lat. hes-t-ernus, ae-t-ernus]; right-eous (properly "right-wise," St. Manual Eng. p. 217); sted-fast, shame-faced (corrupted from shame-fast, owing to a false notion of its meaning), O. E. sooth-fast truthful [fast = firm].

C. OF VERBS.

§ 197. (1.) The most general English suffix for Verbs is -en to make: as

§ 198. Some other verbal suffixes, occurring less frequently or in less defined senses, may be noted: e.g. -se (to make), as in clean-se, rin-se; -er, as in glim-m-er, shim-m-er, sim-m-er, shiv-er, stut-t-er, mut-t-er, &c.; -ster, as in flu-ster, mu-ster, roy-ster, &c. Some of these have apparently been formed by the process of imitation: onomatopoetic words.