| 释义 |
▪ I. -ish1
a suffix forming adjs., of Com. Teut. origin; Goth. -isks, ON. -iskr, OHG., OS., OFris., OE. -isc, Ger., Du. -isch: cognate with Gr. -ισκ-ος dim. suffix of ns. Sometimes syncopated to -sh (spelt also -ch). In Scottish usually -is, syncopated -s, -ce. In words of old formation, the prec. vowel had umlaut (which was often present in the n. whence the adj. in -isc was formed); in later use the vowel has usually been altered back to that of the n. when this is in use; e.g. Scottish, Danish, after Scot, Dane; the modified vowel being retained in other cases, as in English, French, Welsh.
1. In OE. and the cognate langs., chiefly forming gentile adjs. from national names: e.g. British (OE. Brittisc), English (OE. Englisc, † Sc. Inglis), Scottish, Scotch (OE. Scyttisc, Sc. † Scottis, Scots), Irish (OE. Irisc), Welsh (OE. Wielisc, † Sc. Walys, Wallis); Danish (OE. Dęnisc, † Sc. Dense, Dence); Frankish, French (OE. Fręncisc); so in many adjs. of various ages, as Alemannish, Finnish, Flemish, Gaulish, † Greekish (OE. Grécisc), Icelandish, Jewish, Jutish, Netherlandish, Pictish, Polish, Romish, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Wendish.
2. Added to other ns., with the sense ‘Of or belonging to a person or thing, of the nature or character of’. These were not numerous in OE., whence only a few have come down to later times. Examples are folcisc popular, hǽðenisc heathenish, þéodisc national, inlęndisc inlandish, utlęndisc outlandish (which come close to the gentile group in 1); also męnnisc human, cildisc childish, cierlisc churlish. In later times this ending has become exceedingly common, sometimes in the earlier colourless sense as boyish, girlish, waggish, but chiefly in a derogatory sense, ‘Having the (bad or objectionable) qualities of’: as in apish, babyish, boarish, boorish, brutish, clownish, currish, devilish, doggish, doltish, dronish, foolish, foppish, goatish, ghoulish, hoggish, impish, knavish, mannish, monkish, mulish, owlish, prudish, roguish, selfish, shrewish, sluggish, sluttish, sottish, swinish, thievish, waspish, whorish, wolvish, womanish. (These have usually corresponding Ger. forms in -isch.) Also from names of things, with sense ‘of the nature of, tending to’, as in aguish, blockish, bookish, brinish, feverish, freakish, hellish, moorish; or from other parts of speech, as snappish, stand-offish, uppish.
In recent colloquial and journalistic use, -ish has become the favourite ending for forming adjs. for the nonce (esp. of a slighting or depreciatory nature) on proper names of persons, places, or things, and even on phrases, e.g. Disraelitish, Heine-ish, Mark Twainish, Micawberish, Miss Martineauish, Queen Annish, Spectator-ish, Tupperish, West Endish; all-over-ish, at-homeish, devil-may-care-ish, how-d'ye-doish, jolly-good-fellowish, merry-go-roundish, out-of-townish, and the like.
1815Hist. Mr. J. Decastro II. 243 She might have an I-dont-know-howishness about her which no lady can run away from unless she runs one way. 1836Dickens Sk. Boz (1837) II. 2 A clean-cravatish formality of manner. 1845Tennyson in Ld. Tennyson Mem. (1897) I. 227, I feel the least bit possible Miss Martineauish about it. 1883‘Annie Thomas’ Mod. Housewife 150 The Micawberish prospect of anything turning up. 1887Pall Mall G. 17 Oct. 3/1 A Heine-ish sneer at the tendency of the Eternal-Feminine to relax the tension of our ideals. 1894Daily News 4 Jan. 4/7 Some huge pile of building, generally much more Queen Anne-ish than the houses of Queen Anne's own time.
3. Added to adjs. with the sense ‘Of the nature of, approaching the quality of, somewhat’, apparently first with words of colour (which may have been treated as ns., and so have originally come under 2): e.g. bluish (a 1400), blackish (a 1500), brownish, reddish, whitish, yellowish, etc. In later use also with other adjs., and now, in colloquial use, possible with nearly all monosyllabic adjs., and some others, e.g. brightish, broadish, coldish, darkish, dimmish, dryish, dullish, duskish, feeblish, goodish, hardish, loudish, narrowish, oldish, palish, poorish, queerish, smallish, smartish, softish, tallish, thickish, thinnish, warmish, weakish, wettish, youngish. Derivatives of this type are peculiar to English among the cognate languages: those formed on adjs. of colour answer to F. adjs. in -âtre, as bleuâtre, noirâtre, and to Ger. adjs. in -lich, as bläulich, schwärtzlich. Of other adjectives, only a few have equivalent Ger. forms in -lich; the force of -ish is ordinarily given in Ger. by the qualifying etwas or ein wenig.
4. Added to names of hours of the day or numbers of years to denote: round about, somewhere near (the time or period of) (prob. after earlyish, latish).
1916‘Peter’ Trench Yarns ix. 110 ‘What time shall I come?’ ‘Elevenish,’ Sam replied. 1925B. Travers Mischief xiv. 209, I shall be going to Shady Nook at about tenish. 1930J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement iii. 106 Eightish then, next Tuesday, eh? 1941Britannia & Eve Sept. 15/3 Lady Regan was probably thirty. Sir Gerald looked fifty-five-ish. 1950Sat. Rev. Lit. 28 Jan., The ninetyish, gentle Chandler at the reception desk. 1955E. Hyams Slaughterhouse Informer xiv. 220 ‘We'll make a party of it.’ ‘Sixish?’ 1967B. Norman Matter of Mandrake xx. 174 Will you be in your room about sevenish? 1971P. Purser Holy Father's Navy iii. 19 Thirtyish furniture in pale, shabby wood. 1972C. Fremlin Appointment with Yesterday iv. 24 This anxious thirty-five-ish person.
From adjs. in -ish, advbs. in -ishly and ns. of quality in -ishness, are formed ad libitum: e.g. girlishly, girlishness, feverishly, feverishness.
▪ II. -ish2
a suffix of verbs, repr. F. -iss-, extended stem of verbs in -ir, e.g. périr to perish, periss-ant, ils periss-ent. The F. -iss- originated in the L. -isc- of inceptive verbs, which in It., Pr., and Fr. was extended to form a class of simple verbs, corresp. to L. verbs in -īre and -ēre, and including others which were assimilated to these. At their first adoption, these verbs ended in Eng. in -is, -ise, -iss(e, which before 1400 changed to -isshe. In Sc. the original -is, -isse, was retained longer, and appeared in 16th c. as -eis(e: pereis, fleureis. Among the chief examples of this ending are abolish, accomplish, banish, blandish, blemish, brandish, burnish, cherish, demolish, embellish, establish, finish, flourish, furbish, furnish, garnish, impoverish, languish, nourish, perish, polish, punish, ravish, relinquish, replenish, tarnish, vanish, varnish.
In some cases, other Fr. endings have been levelled under this suffix in AFr. or English: such are admonish, astonish, diminish, distinguish, eternish, famish, lavish, minish, monish, publish, relish, etc., for the history of which see the individual words.
In a few words the F. -iss- is represented in Eng. by -ise, or even -ize: e.g. avertir, -iss- advertise, châstir, -iss- chastise; amortir, -iss- amortize; réjouir, rejouiss- has given rejoice. |