As a search on the pertinent terms didn't show an posts on this subject, thought I'd ask about something I'd just today noticed. At least three words I'm aware of seen to have the ending "-son" that have no relation to... er, relations: advowson, benison, orison. A quick look in my favorite dictionary tells me these had all come to English, via Old French, from Latin verbs ending in TIO. Does this mean the common suffix I noticed is an archaic form of "-tion"? <cue Schoolhouse Rock song>
Anyone know anything about other, similar suffixes that only remain in a few remnant terms? (For that matter, anyone aware of any more words ending with this form of "-son"?)
Edit: excuse my Latin. The TIO 'verbs' are actually noun forms of the relevant verbs.This message has been edited. Last edited by: KB,
D'oh! Never even thought of the common comparison. Venison, either. I did think of stuff like poison, reason & treason, but skipped them as I thought their SONs were part of their root words, kinda like in bison & mason. But you're right, they do seem to also fall into my category. So, thank you for that.
But has anyone found other, similar types of suffixes -- stuff we aren't familiar with these days AS suffixes? I mean, we all know endings like -ism, -ness, -ese, -less, -ment, -tion, etc. These days, most everyone knows how to make words with them, even if they've never heard that form of the root. (Even to making weak puns: "What do you call the dried pop at the bottom of an old, used cola bottle? Sodament.") But are there any others we've lost that were known from in Middle English or so?
My favorite English suffix is -th for forming abstract nouns: e.g., birth, dearth, death, health, length, strength, warmth, wealth, width. I've coined one and use it on occasion: chillth.
Originally posted by zmježd: My favorite English suffix is -th for forming abstract nouns: e.g., birth, dearth, death, health, length, strength, warmth, wealth, width. I've coined one and use it on occasion: chillth.
as the coiner of chillth, what recommends it to you over the archaic [per OED2] coolth?
1890 KIPLING Plain Tales from Hills (ed. 3) 137 He kept on steadily and tried to think how pleasant the coolth was. 1926 J. R. R. TOLKIEN in Year's Work Eng. Stud. 1924 30 The current coolth, which shows signs of losing its facetiousness, and may claim part of the territory of cool. 1955 E. POUND Classic Anthol. II. 120 June's mid-summer, August brings coolth again. 1965 E. O'BRIEN August is Wicked Month ii. 21 She felt the coolth of her thighs and thought it nice to feel her own coolness. 1991 E. PETERS Last Camel Died at Noon II. xv. 311 Hear it we did, in the coolth of the evening, as twilight spread her violet veils across the garden. 2001 S. HEANEY Electric Light 73 The older I get, the quicker and the closer I hear those labouring breaths and feel the coolth.
what recommends it to you over the archaic [per OED2] coolth?
The pleasingness of its ablaut, i.e., oo to i, and the affricatvity of its /k/ => /ʧ/. But, I see I have departed from some rather lofty company, i.e., Kipling, Tolkien, and Pound.
