| 释义 |
▪ I. -al suffix1
of adjs. and ns.
I. adj.
1. repr. L. -āl-em (-ālis, -āle, stem -āli-) adj. suff. = ‘of the kind of, pertaining to,’ varying in some words with -ār-em, the form always used when l preceded; thus tāl-, quāl-, nātāl-, ōrāl-; ālār-, stellār-, regulār-; līneāl- and lineār-. In words that survived, -ālem became in OFr. and hence in early Eng. -el, as mortālem, mortel. But, to some extent in Fr. and entirely in Eng. this was afterwards refashioned after L., as -al, on the analogy of which L. adjs. in -ālis and Fr. in -el have since been englished without limit.
2. The number of these adjs. in -ālis has been immensely increased in med. and mod.L.; and in the mod. Rom. langs. and E. this has become a suffix addable to any L. n., as seen in agmin-al, bas-al, cordi-al, document-al, margin-al, nation-al, pred-al, circumstanti-al, constitution-al, denomination-al, longitudin-al, proportion-al, providenti-al, prudenti-al, antipestilenti-al, none of which are found in ancient L. Following L. precedent (as in boreāl-em, hebdomadāl-em, theātrāl-em) -al is also suffixed to Gr. ns., as in baptism-al, cathedr-al, coloss-al, chor-al, octagon-al, patriarch-al.
3. In L., secondary adjs. in -ālem were formed on other adjs., esp. when these were used substantively, as in æqu-um æquāl-em, annu-um annuāl-em, diurn-um diurnāl-em, infern-um infernāl-em, vern-um vernāl-em. This process has been greatly extended in the mod. langs., esp. in E. where -al (like -ous) is a living formative, freely applied to L. adjs. in -eus, -ius, -uus, -rnus, -is, and other endings, to give them a more distinctively adj. form; thus, aere-al, corpore-al, funere-al, senatori-al, continu-al, individu-al, perpetu-al, etern-al, patern-al, celesti-al, terrestri-al, magnific-al. This is extended to Gr. adjs. in -κός, -οειδής, which also frequently gave substantives (music, tactics, rhomboid), so that, as adj. suffixes, -acal, -ical, -oidal occur earlier in E. than the simple -ac, -ic, -oid; when the two co-exist, as in comic-al, tragic-al, historic-al, that in -ic, etc. means ‘of or belonging to’ the thing, that in -ical ‘relating to, dealing with, indirectly or remotely connected with’ the thing, as a historic answer, a historical treatise, a comic paper, a comical idea. See -ac, -ic, -oid. Other suffixes are also added, as in central-ly, -ize, -ization, formal-ity.
II. n.
4. Adjs. in -al- in various genders and numbers were used substantively in L., thus rivāl-is, annāl-es, animal, tribūnal, sponsāli-a, Baccānāli-a. Many of these have been adopted in E., directly or through Fr., as rival, annals, animal, Bacchanals, penetralia, Saturnalia; and the number has been increased by the mod. n. use of many which were only adj., or did not exist in L., as cardinal, principal, moral, oval, signal, regimentals, canonicals.
5. Nouns in -ālia (neut. pl.) which survived into OFr. became -aille (fem. sing.) with pl. -ailles, adopted in ME., as -aylle, -aille, later -aile, -al, as L. sponsāli-a, OFr. espousaille-s, E. spousaille, spousaile-s; L. *battālia, OFr. bataille, Eng. bataille, -aile, -ail, now battle. On this analogy, -aille, -ail, -al became an Anglo-Fr. and E. formative of nouns of action on vbs. of Fr. or L. origin, as in AFr. arrivaille arrival; so of later formation (some quite modern) ‘revival, survival, approval, removal, avowal, renewal; acquittal, committal, transmittal, refutal, recital, requital; dismissal, perusal, refusal, carousal, rehearsal, reversal, revisal, reprisal, surprisal; dis-, inter-, pro-, re-, sup-, trans-posal; trial, denial, decrial’; occas. also on native final-accented vbs. as ‘bestowal, betrothal, beheadal.’ Bridal and burial simulate this ending, but have a different origin; yet they have probably aided the prevalence of these nouns of action in -al in mod.Eng.
▪ II. -al, suffix2 Chem.
The first syllable of aldehyde and alcohol, used to form the names of substances which are aldehydes or derived from alcohol; e.g. bromal, butyral, chloral, ethal. Also as a general termination for pharmaceutical products, as barbital, hormonal (n.). |