25.12.2013 Views

0 INTRODUCTION

0 INTRODUCTION

0 INTRODUCTION

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

5. CORPORA AND METHODOLOGY<br />

its nominal in –ance; for instance, appear: appearance. Later –ance started to be used as<br />

an independent suffix to form nouns of action, as in avoidance and clearance. Over time,<br />

this suffix came to be attached also to Germanic verbs, forming hybrids like abidance,<br />

forbearance, hindrance and riddance (Jespersen 1942 [1909] Vol. VI: 371), the first<br />

attested example being hindrance, dating from the 15 th century.<br />

The preferred meanings for the –ance suffix in ME were those of quality,<br />

instrument and state (Lloyd 2011: 202), and it is now used to form deverbal nouns, having<br />

the usual meanings ‘state, act, fact of Ving’ (Marchand 1969 [1960]: 248). Jespersen,<br />

(1942 [1909] Vol. VI: 371) mentions that formerly there was a tendency to use the forms<br />

ending in –ce and in –cy indiscriminately (e.g. arrogance/arrogancy,<br />

exuberance/exuberancy). However, in some cases a differentiation between these forms<br />

has taken place. Thus, the tendency is to use the variant –ance to denote action, state or<br />

quality, whereas –ancy is preferred to denote state or quality only (e.g. observance refers<br />

to the “action or practice of observing” while observancy is the “quality of being<br />

observant”); –ence and –ency follow a similar pattern of distribution, and hence<br />

consistence refers to the “degree of density in liquids” whereas consistency names the<br />

“quality or state of being consistent” (Jespersen 1942 [1909] Vol. VI: 371).<br />

5.2.1.2.4. –age<br />

The suffix –age comes from French –age, which in turn derives from Latin –aticum, which<br />

“was used for abstract sbs of appurtenance and collectives” (Jespersen 1942 [1909] Vol.<br />

VI: 436). In ME, this suffix was used to derive abstract nouns from verbs and nouns. It<br />

was attached not only to Romance bases, but also to native ones. Take, for example, the<br />

147

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!