0 INTRODUCTION

5. CORPORA AND METHODOLOGY
5.2.1.2.5. –ure
This suffix comes from French –ure, which originates from Latin –ura. In English, the
suffix –ure was already found in ME in many words of French or Latin origin. Consider,
for instance, jointure, pleasure and closure. In EModE, some formations were created in
English from words of Latin origin, such as composure, exposure and vomiture (Jespersen
1942 [1909] Vol. VI: 244). Only in a very few cases is the suffix –ure attached to native
bases, e.g., clefture ‘state of being cleft,’ raisure ‘elevation,’ both being now obsolete
(Jespersen 1942 [1909] Vol. VI: 145). In some French words the suffix –ure came to
replace the original –ir or –or (e.g. pleasir > pleasure; tresor > treasure) (Jespersen 1942
[1909] Vol. VI: 245).
As for its meaning, in Latin, this suffix denoted action or process. Later, it acquired
a new shade of meaning, namely the result of the action, and in some cases “a collective
body” (Jespersen 1942 [1909] Vol. VI: 244).
5.2.1.2.6. –al
In Jespersen (1942 [1909]: 384), the suffix –al is cited as deriving from the Latin forms
–alis, –al, –ales, or –alia. Some authors, such as Dalton-Puffer (1996: 101), consider –al a
marginal suffix which was not used in the formation of deverbal abstract nouns, in view of
the scant evidence in her corpus; her ME data included just six tokens of the types
spousayle and governaile, all of them belonging to subperiod ME3 (1350-1420).
The suffix –al has the meaning ‘the act of Ving’ or ‘the state of being –ed,’ for
instance, denial, refusal, dismissal, survival, removal and renewal, among others
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