| 释义 |
▪ I. -y suffix1
(Forms: 1 -iᵹ, 2–5 -i, 4–6 -ye, 4–7 -ie, 4– -y, 6– now only in certain cases -ey),
descending from the OE. adj. suffix -iᵹ, which represents under a common form two OTeut. suffixes *-ī̆ᵹa-, -aᵹa-, still distinguishable in OE. by the presence or absence respectively of mutation of the stem vowel of the n. to which it is added, e.g. módiᵹ moody:—*mōdaᵹa-, f. *mōda- mood n.1, mihtiᵹ mighty:—*mahtī̆ᵹa-, f. *mahtiz might, stániᵹ stony beside stǽniᵹ, þurstiᵹ beside þyrstiᵹ thirsty.
OTeut. *-ī̆ᵹa-, -aᵹa- are differentiated forms of Indo-eur. -qo- (Skr. -ka-, Gr. -κο-, L. -cu-) arising from application of the suffix to i- and a- stems respectively. In other Teut. languages the following forms are found: OFris. -ig, OS. ig, (MDu. -ig, -ich, Du. -ig), OHG. -ī̆g (MHG. -ig, -eg, -ec, G. -ig), ON. -igr, Goth. -eigs, -igs; OS. -ag, OHG. -ag, -ah, ON. -agr, Goth. -ags, -ahs; also OHG. -uh, ON. -ugr, Goth. -ugs.
When the suffix is appended to a n. ending in y, the convention of modern spelling requires it to be spelt -ey, as in clayey, skyey, wheyey. When the n. ends in -e preceded by a vowel, the e is retained, as bluey, gluey; in other cases there may be variation, as homey, homy, liney, liny, nosey, nosy.
1. The general sense of this suffix is ‘having the qualities of’ or ‘full of’ that which is denoted by the n. to which it is added, as icy = (1) of the nature of, having the appearance, hardness, coldness, slipperiness, transparency, etc. of ice; (2) full of or covered with ice. In OE. there was a very large number of such adjs., many of which have a continuous history from the earliest times to the present day; in the case of some, however, e.g. clayey, icy, rainy, wintry, there is a significant gap in the evidence, which suggests that they may have dropped out of use and have been formed afresh later. There are some noteworthy instances of new formations in late OE., e.g. dohtiᵹ doughty replacing dyhtiᵹ, dústiᵹ dusty, snáwiᵹ snowy replacing snáwlic. To several OE. adjs. in -iᵹ there were parallel formations in -iht, as ísiᵹ, ísiht icy, sandiᵹ, sandiht sandy, þorniᵹ, þorniht and þyrniht thorny; the disappearance of this latter suffix left freer scope of development for the forms in -iᵹ.
In ME. the number of these derivatives does not seem to have been at first greatly increased; the following fresh coinages are exemplified first from texts before 1300, dready, fiery, frighty, hairy (cf. OE. hæriht), happy, needy, sleepy (but cf. OE. unslǽpiᵹ), tidy (c 1250 = in good condition); there are occasional parasynthetic compounds, as sort-leui short-lived. The addition of the suffix to non-native ns. is at least as early as the 13th cent., e.g. savoury in the Ancren Riwle. The fourteenth cent., esp. the later half, was prolific in new formations; to this period belong angry, bushy, earthy, fatty, flowery, heady, hearty, milky, miry, mouldy, mucky, naughty, smoky, sweaty, and many more. The sixteenth cent. was also a prolific period; to it belong, e.g., cottony, frothy, dirty, healthy, leafy (but leavy is 15th cent.), mealy, saucy, sugary, viny, woolly, yeasty. Others, such as bulky, measly, noisy (Dryden), peppery, racy, skyey are recorded first from the 17th cent.
Later new derivatives tend in a large measure to be colloquial, undignified, or trivial, as bumpy, dumpy, flighty, hammy, liney, loopy, lumpy, lungy, messy, oniony, treey, verminy, vipery; some are from verbs, as dangly. Contextually, the application of the adj. may be narrowed in any direction, as mousy = (1) resembling a mouse, (2) quiet as a mouse, or (3) infested with mice. A sense ‘addicted to’ (cf. 3), as in booky, doggy, horsy, is of modern growth.
1850Thackeray Contrib. to Punch Wks. 1900 VI. 163 Grizzel had brought me an oniony knife to cut the bread. 1869Mrs. Whitney We Girls ii, Bedsteads and washstands and bureaus—the very things that made up-stairs look so very bedroomy. 1891M. M. Dowie Girl in Karp. xi. 144 Fretwork brackets and crystal dangly things.
2. In the 15th cent., if not earlier, certain monosyllabic adjs. were extended by means of this suffix, app. with the design of giving them a more adjectival appearance, e.g. hugy f. huge, leany f. lean. The majority of such words arose in the 16th and 17th cent.; examples are: bleaky, chilly, cooly, dusky, fainty, haughty, hoary, lanky, paly adj.1, plumpy, slighty, slippery, stouty, swarty, thicky, vasty. In this application the suffix has not infrequently come to express much the same notion as -ish; this is particularly so with colour-epithets, as blacky, yellowy, and esp. when these are used quasi-advb., as greeny-blue, bluey-green, reddy-brown.
3. As early as the 13th c. this suffix began to be used with verb-stems to express the meaning ‘inclined or apt to’ do something, or ‘giving occasion to’ a certain action; in the Ancren Riwle alone we have slibbri, sliddri, sluggi, slummi. Chaucer has sleepy = soporific. In the 16th cent. arose choky, drowsy, slippy, sticky; later we find blowy, clingy, floaty, quavery, rollicky. The immediate etymon of such adjs. cannot always be ascertained.
4. From the early years of the 19th cent. the suffix has been used still more freely in nonce-words designed to connote such characteristics of a person or thing as call for condemnation, ridicule, or contempt; hence such adjs. as beery, catty, churchy, jumpy, newspapery, piggy, tinny.
▪ II. -y suffix2
(1–3 -ian, -iᵹan, -ia, 2–4 -ien, -ie, 3 -iȝen, -eȝen, -ye(n, -in, 3–4 -i, 4–5 -ey, 8 -ee, 3– -y)
represents OE. infin. ending -ian of the 2nd class of weak verbs (having pa. tense in -ode and pa. pple. in -od), corresp. to OFris. -ia, OS. -ôian, -ôn, (MLG., MDu. -en), OHG. -ôn (MHG., G. -en), Goth. -ôn:—OTeut. *-ōjan. This class of verbs is denominative; e.g. OE. sealfian to anoint:—*salƀōjan, f. *salƀō ointment, salve, hearpian to harp, f. hearp harp, and contains many intrans. verbs derived from adjs., e.g. cólian to be cool (= OS. côlôn):—*kōlōjan, f. *kōluz cool, nearwian to be narrow, f. nearu narrow; it was swelled in prehistoric OE. by the passing over to it of many verbs that orig. belonged to the -ǣjan class, as hatian:—*hatōjan, -ǣjan to hate (cf. OHG. haȥȥôn beside haȥȥên). Adoptions of foreign verbs were regularly taken into this class, e.g. OE. fersian to versify, (ᵹe)temprian to moderate, offrian to sacrifice.
By the 13th century this suffix had become restricted to the southern and western districts of England, and in the course of the century became generalized in those parts as the infin. ending of all verbs of whatever origin. The following are some examples of the extension of its use: in verbs orig. belonging to other conjugations, brukien (OE. brúcan) to enjoy, nemni (OE. nemnan) to name (Layamon); in new derivatives on native stems, chapfari to chaffer (Ayenbite), grundien to sink (Layamon), kniȝti to knight (King Horn); in verbs from Scandinavian, lastin (ON. lasta) to blame, trosti (Ayenbite); in verbs from French, not only those in -ier, -ir, -ire (the similarity of which to the ME. suffix would naturally suggest adoption into the -ien conjugation), boili (OF. boillir) to boil, consenti (OF. consentir), herberȝi (OF. herbergier) to harbour, saisi (OF. saisir) to seize, trety (OF. traitier) to treat—including those of the -iss- conjugation, norisi, norischei (OF. noriss-) to nourish, perissy (OF. periss-) to perish—but many also of other classes, anuri (OF. anourer) to worship, fausie (OF. fauser) to fail, granti (AF. graunter) to grant, ioyni (OF. ioign-) to join, tempti (OF. tempter) to tempt (these forms occur in various texts from Layamon to Ayenbite).
This suffix has been in continuous use in the south-west until the present day, when it is the regular infin. ending of verbs when used intrans. in the counties of Somerset, Devon, and Dorset. Examples and illustrations since 1400 are:—
c1430Two Cookery-bks. 7 Gadere alle þe kreme in þe clothe, an let hongy on an pyn. Ibid. 31 Take Porke or Beef, wheþer þe lykey. 1484Yatton Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 115 To costs to rydy for the Chals that waste ystole xijd. 1746Exmoor Scolding (E.D.S.) 143 Thee wut ruckee, and squattee, and doattee in the Chimley Coander lick an Axwaddle. 1825Jennings Observ. Dial. W. Eng. 7 Another peculiarity is that of attaching to many of the common verbs in the infinitive mode, as well as to some other parts of different conjugations, the letter y. Thus it is very common to say I can't sewy, I can't nursy, he can't reapy, he can't sawy; as well as to sewy, to nursy, to reapy, to sawy, &c. but never, I think, without an auxiliary verb, or the sign of the infinitive to. 1863Barnes Dorset Dial. 28 The truth is, that in the Dorset the verb takes y only when it is absolute, and never with an accusative case. We may say, ‘Can ye zewy?’ but never ‘Wull ye zewy up theäse zēam?’ ‘Wull ye zew up theäse zēam?’ would be good Dorset. Belonging to this use of the free infinitive y-ended verbs, is another kindred one, the showing of a repetition or habit of the action, as ‘How the dog do jumpy,’ i.e. keep jumping. ‘The child do like to whippy,’ amuse himself with whipping. ‘Idle chap, He'll do nothèn but vishy, (spend his time in fishing,) if you do leäve en alwone.’ ‘He do markety,’ He attends market.
▪ III. -y suffix3
(also 3–7 -ie, 4–6 -ye)
represents ultimately, through F. -ie, Com. Romanic -ía = L. -ī̆a, which comprised under one graphic form the Greek suffixes -ία and -εια, as in L. mania = Gr. µανία, whence F. manie, ME. manie, L. sympathīa = Gr. συµπάθεια, whence F. sympathie, Eng. sympathy. Romanic -ía displaced L. ´-ĭa and became a living formative for abstract nouns of quality or condition; e.g. in OF. from corteis (courteous) was formed corteisie courtesy, from fol (fool), folie folly, from gelos (jealous), gelosie jealousy, and the like. When learned adoptions were made of L. nouns in ´-ĭa, this suffix was also represented by -ie, and so assimilated to -ía; e.g. F. furie fury, ad. L. furia (whence also organic OF. fuire). In AF. preference was given to such forms as these over popular or semi-popular forms, e.g. AF. accidie, glorie, estorie, victorie = central F. accide, gloire, estoire, victoire, L. or med.L. accīdia, glōria, historia (Gr. ἱστορία), victōria; it is the AF. forms of such words that were adopted into English (see accidie, glory, story, victory).
There were various new formations in late or med.L., in Romanic, or in individual Romance languages; examples are Romanic *libraría library, *poesía (for poesis) poesy, OF. navie navy.
This suffix has never been in English a prolific formative, but from time to time new coinages have been made, e.g. in the 14th cent. beggerie beggary and in the 16th coopery (= cooper's work or ware), f. beggar and cooper, both doubtless furthered by the prevalence of the suffix -ery. Nonce-words like orphany and tenanty are of doubtful status, but the correspondence of adjs. in -ic and -ous to ns. in -y has made possible in modern times the formation after Gr. types of such words as brachycephaly, gymnospermy, synchrony, syntony from brachycephalic, gymnospermous, synchronous, syntonic. The domain of the suffix is much enlarged by its constituting the final element of many compound suffixes, which receive separate treatment in this Dictionary in their alphabetical places; e.g. -acy, -cy, -ery, -graphy, -latry, -logy, -machy, -pathy, -phagy, -phily, -ry, -tomy, -tony.
Many important ns. having this suffix appear as English adoptions of French words in the 13th century, as barony, blasphemy, company, courtesy, felony, folly, jealousy, litany, story, villainy; others, such as comedy and tragedy, fury, glory, harmony, honesty, library, melancholy, memory, misery, navy, victory date from the 14th century; in the 15th and 16th centuries another series of borrowings from French or from Latin appears, such as family, industry, irony, liturgy, modesty.
The majority denote a state, condition, or quality; others denote an activity or a result of it, as blasphemy, felony, fury, harmony, history, liturgy, memory, phantasy, poesy, victory. From either signification a definitely concrete meaning may be readily developed, which is found in barony (= baronial domain, body of barons), company, family, library, navy, sacristy, etc. The concrete application is abundantly illustrated also by names of countries, as † Armony (Armenia), Italy, † Syrie (Syria), Brittany; cf. -ia suffix1.
▪ IV. -y suffix4
representing, first through AF. forms in -ie, later by direct adaptation, L. -ium, which was added to verbal roots (primarily i- and e- stems) to denote an act, as in beneficium well-doing, good action, f. beneficĕre to do good, colloquium conference, conversation, f. colloquī to speak with, gaudium joy, f. gaudēre to rejoice, suspīrium sigh, f. suspīrāre to sigh. The earliest derivatives of this formation that were introduced into English are remedy (Ancren Riwle), through AF. remedie, from L. remedium, and † sacrilegy (early 14th c.), from AF. *sacrilegie or L. sacrilegium. To both of these there are parallel forms, † remede and sacrilege, derived from continental Fr. forms remede and sacrilege; there are several similar pairs, of which the shorter form represents a continental Fr. form, the longer the corresponding AF. form or the orig. Latin, viz. † augure1 and augury, benefice and † beneficie (rare), † colloque and colloquy, empire (F. empire) and † empery (AF. emperie, L. imperium), homicide n.2 and † homicidie (rare), † perjure n.2 (rare) and perjury, † subside (c 1450–1553) and subsidy; † ingeny ‘mind’, ‘intellect’ has its etymological doublet in engine ‘native talent, genius, ingenuity, mechanical contrivance’. Most of these words, together with obloquy, came into the language before 1500. † Relevy n.1 (med.L. relevium) and suspiry (L. suspīrium) are rarities; gaudy, though partly from L. gaudium, is prob. of mixed origin; the derivation of larceny is somewhat obscure. Horology1 (beside horologe) and mystery1 are derived, through the medium of L. -ium, from Greek forms having the cognate termination -ιον.
This cannot be said to have been at any time a living suffix in Eng., but there appears to have been reminiscence of its function, combined with the false analogy of words in -ry, in the coining of a few nouns from verbs ending in an r-sound, viz. enquery (c 1440), inquery, inquiry (16th c.), f. enquere, inquire, expiry (from 1752) f. expire, and a rare transpiry f. transpire. Entreaty (16th c.) is f. entreat vb. on the analogy of treat, treaty.
▪ V. -y suffix5
representing AF., OF. -e, -ee, mod.F. -é, -ée:—L. -ātu-, -āta- (see -ate1, -ate2). a. In ns. = -ate1, as in (i) county1, OF. counte, F. comté, L. comitātus, f. comit-, comes count, duchy, F. duché, L. ducātus, f. duc-, dux duke, treaty, F. traité, L. tractātus, f. tractāre to treat, (ii) army, F. armée, Romanic *armāta armed force, f. armāre to arm, delivery, AF. delivree, ppl. n. f. delivrer to deliver, entry, F. entrée, Romanic *intrāta, f. intrāre to enter.
This suffix is represented under other forms in certain words, e.g. assignee, committee, refugee (F. assigné, comité, refugié), attorney (OF. atorné), alley, journey, valley (F. allée, journée, vallée).
b. In adjs. = -ate2, as in easy, OF. aisié (F. aisé), f. aisier to ease. There are few general adjs. of this kind, but there is a considerable number of heraldic descriptive terms having this termination, the earliest example of which is jerownde (14th cent.), gerundi (1486), gyronny, a. OF. geroné, gironné, f. giron gyron. Early adoptions of this class have the ending -e, later -ee, and (as early as the Book of St. Albans, 1486) often -i, later -y. With some, -y has become the regular form, as barry, bendy, fretty, fusilly, gyronny, lozengy, nowy, paly adj.2, sarcelly; others are found commonly with either -é, -ée, -ee, or -y, as botoné(e, -y, checky, chequee, nébulé, -y, tenné, -y, undé(e, undy; others, of more modern introduction, usually retain the French spelling, as coupé, dancetté(e (cf. † dancy), écartelé, renversé, semée; some have been anglicized with the native ppl. suffix, either temporarily or permanently, as † besantid (= bezanty), escarteled, paled ppl. adj.1, resarcelled, sarcelled. In wavy (after undy) we have a rare instance of an analogical use of the suffix with a n. of native origin.
▪ VI. -y suffix6, -ie
(also 7–8 -ee, 7– -ey),
used to form pet names and familiar diminutives. The forms -y and -ie are now almost equally common in proper names as such, but in a few instances one or other spelling is preferred, as Annie, Betty, Sally (rather than Anny, Bettie, Sallie); in the transferred applications of these, as jemmy, tommy, dicky, and the like, -y prevails; in general hypocoristic forms -ie is the favourite spelling after Scottish usage, as dearie, mousie. The use of -ey is subject to the same rules as for -y suffix1.
The use of this suffix in pet forms of proper names is found in Sc. as early as 1400; and in the 15th and 16th centuries instances become frequent; examples are Cryste, Cristi (f. Cristin, Cristian), Pery (f. Pere Peter), Sandy (f. Sandre for Alisandre Alexander), Jamy (f. James), Michy (f. Michel), Richy (f. Richard), Roby (f. Robert), Edi (f. Ede, Ade Adam), Anny (f. Anne), Bessy (f. Elizabeth). Such names were prob. modelled orig. upon forms like Davy, Mathy (= OF. Davi, Mathé), which have the appearance of being pet forms of David, Mathou. (Many have survived in Sc. surnames, as Christie, Eadie, Pirrie, Ritchie, Christison, Mathieson, Robison; Davy occurs as a surname in English use in the early 14th cent.)
The formation was greatly extended in Scottish and English use; whence Annie, Billy, Carrie (f. Caroline), Charlie or Charley, Fanny (f. Frances), Jacky, Jenny, Jimmy, Johnny, Nanny, Nellie (f. Ellen), Patty, Reggie (f. Reginald), Tommy, Willie. Many female names have corresponding forms in Du. names with the suffix -je, as in huisje little house, f. huis house n.1; e.g. Betty, Elsie, Hetty, Katy, Lottie, Matty, Sally correspond to Du. Betje, Elsje, Jetje, Kaatje, Lotje, Matje, Sellie; but there is no evidence of historical contact.
Recently appended to surnames to form a familiar name.
1941J. Hilton Random Harvest v. 352 She ran into his arms calling out: ‘Oh, Smithy—Smithy—it may not be too late.’ 1958A. Hackney Private Life ix. 84 ‘Who's Old Kitey?’ ‘A Mr. Kite. He's our shop steward.’ Ibid. xvii. 171 ‘Mr. Cox arranged it.’.. ‘You've got to be careful with old Coxy.’
The earliest recorded instances of the use of such proper names as appellatives are Scottish and belong to the beginning of the 16th century: viz. Lowrie (f. Lowrens Laurence) used for ‘fox’; Katy and Kitty (f. Katherine), with the meaning ‘lass, wench’, tending to a specifically depreciatory sense, ‘wanton, loose woman’, which senses belong also to the 18th century Molly and Nanny (as in nanny-house brothel); a few female names, viz. Molly and (dialectally) Peggy, have been used to designate an effeminate type of man.
The application of the female names to birds dates, according to our evidence, from the close of the 16th century; the wren is designated by Kitty and (more commonly) Jenny; in 1616 Ben Jonson calls a parrot Polly; in modern dialects Peggy is applied to various warblers and the pied wagtail, and Betty to the hedge-sparrow. Then, in the course of the 17th century, these names came to be applied to various mechanical contrivances, among which machines for spinning processes and the burglar's jemmy are prominent. This transference of application is illustrated by Betty (a burglar's jemmy, 1700), Jenny (in spinning-jenny, 1783), Jinny (a stationary engine at a mine), Peggy (a washing-tub dolly, in various dialects).
Among male names the following are typical: Johnny is used for fellow, chap, Jemmy for the burglar's weapon, Billy for a roving machine; Bobby, Charley, Dicky, Geordie, Jacky, Jockey, Tommy exhibit a great variety of modes of application.
The first known instance of the application of the suffix to a common noun is laddie which appears in 1546 in the form laddy, used by John Bale; but there is no evidence until the 18th century of the generalization of -y for pet diminutives. Early instances are dummie (1595), grannie (1663), dearie (1681), mousie (1693, Sc.); laddie, lassie, and sweetie were used by Allan Ramsay, and these, with Burn's birdie and mousie, helped to popularize such formations in English generally; hence the appearance in the late 18th and early 19th century of cooky, doggie, froggy, mannie, slavey. In blacky and darky there remained something of the status of a proper name; cf. Fatty as a nickname. Bookie for bookmaker is a formation of a rare type; cf. nighty for nightdress.
There are two words that are generally held to contain this suffix, viz. baby (late 14th c.) and puppy (late 15th c.). With baby may perhaps be coupled daddy and mammy, although the evidence for these is not earlier than the 16th century; the pairs babe and baby, dad and daddy, mam and mammy, may have resulted from different phonetic reductions of original reduplicated forms *baba (cf. baban), *dada, *mama. The source of puppy (spelt popi in the Bk. St. Albans) is doubtful; pup is a back-formation from it. |