| 释义 |
-head, suffix|hɛd|
later form of ME. hêde, hêd, found already in 12th c., but not known in OE., though pointing etymologically to an OE. *-hǽdu, -o (obl. cases -hǽde) fem., beside OE. -hád masc., corresp. to OHG. -heit masc. and fem.
This suffix was orig. an independent subst. (OTeut. *haidu-z masc. in Goth. haidus m., manner, way (see had n., hede), which, after coming to be used only in comb., was practically only a suffix of condition or quality. In its primary use, -hede appears to have been appropriate to adjs. as boldhede, biterhede, drunkenhede, fairhede, falshede, etc., but it was soon extended to ns., as in knyghthede, manhede, maydenhede, wommanhede (all in Chaucer), being thus used indiscriminately with -hôd (-hode, -hood) from OE. -hád. In Cursor M. fadirhede, faderhade, preistes hede, pristis hade, occur as MS. variants. This led the way finally to the obsolescence of -hede, -head, and the substitution, even in adjs., of -hood, as in mod. falsehood, likelihood, etc. One or two special forms in -head, e.g. godhead, maidenhead (distinguished from godhood, maidenhood), only remain. In Scotch, on the contrary, -hede, -heid, remained the current form, but is now more or less obsolescent. See also had n., hede n., and -hood. |