-lic

LIC Lic lic líc lić lîç Lic. lic. Lower Sorbian Pronunciation dsb /lit͡s/ [lʲit͡s] Particle dsb particle dsb -li Conjunction dsb conjunction dsb -li Further reading Middle English Suffix enm suffix 1 enm Early ME enm -ly adjectival suffix adjectival Old English Alternative forms ang -lēċ -līh -lī Etymology ang :inh gmw-pro:*-līk ang ine-pro *leyg- like ang gmw-pro 1 From ang gmw-pro *-līk, from ang gem-pro *-līkaz (adjectival suffix, originally meaning “having form of”), derived from gem-pro *līką (“body,” earlier “form”), whence ang līċ. Cognate with ofs -lik, osx -līk, goh -līh, non -ligr, and got -𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃. Pronunciation -līċ ang iːt͡ʃ 1 Suffix -līċ -līcra -līcost forms adjectives meaning “like” or “relating to” ang ċild<t:child> ċildlīċ<t:childlike> ang dēad<t:dead> dēadlīċ<t:mortal> ang fēond<t:enemy> fēondlīċ<t:hostile> ang frēond<t:friend> frēondlīċ<t:friendly> ang ġefēra<t:companion> ġefērlīċ<t:social> ang lēof<t:beloved> lēoflīċ<t:lovely> ang lēoþ<t:poem> lēoþlīċ<t:poetic> ang līchama<t:body> līchamlīċ<t:physical> ang mennisċ<t:human> mennisċlīċ<t:humane> ang niht<t:night> nihtlīċ<t:nocturnal> ang niþer<t:down> niþerlīċ<t:low> ang open<t:open> openlīċ<t:public> ang stæf<t:letter> stæflīċ<t:literal> ang stōw<t:place> stōwlīċ<t:local> ang ūþwita<t:philosopher> ūþwitlīċ<t:philosophical> ang wer<t:man> werlīċ<t:manly or masculine> ang wīf<t:woman> wīflīċ<t:feminine> ang wundor<t:miracle or wonder> wundorlīċ<t:miraculous or wonderful> denoting multiplicity: -fold ang þrilīċ triple, three-fold Usage notes -Līċ is the most common adjectival suffix in Old English. It can be added to almost any word, often corresponding to Modern English en -y. It has no very definite difference in meaning from ang -isċ and ang -iġ, except that it is more common and different words happen to end in it. -Līċ belongs to a class of suffixes which were derived from independent words, but which by the written period were no longer strongly identified with the words they were derived from (in this case, ang līċ “dead body,” which once meant “body” ← “form”). According to Hogg,1 49 the primary examples are ang -bǣre, ang -bora, ang -cund, ang -dōm, ang -fæst, ang -feald, ang -ful, ang -hād, ang -lāc, ang -lēas, -līċ, ang -rǣden, ang -sċipe, ang -sum, and ang -weard. The words created with these suffixes are called "quasi-compounds," which are stressed differently from true compounds. True compound nouns and adjectives always carry secondary stress on their final element: ang foxhol, [ˈfoksˌhol]. But quasi-compounds are stressed variably: after a stressed syllable, i.e. a monosyllabic first element, the suffix undergoes reduced stress, unless the suffix is multisyllabic and not Resolution (meter) resolved. Under this reduced stress, if the suffix has a long vowel or a diphthong, the long vowel is shortened and the diphthong becomes a monophthong (ea becomes a, eo becomes e, ie becomes i). However, even when the vowel in these suffixes is short, it is traditionally written with a macron for consistency, because it is still long in the inflected forms. Likewise, the quasi-compounding suffixes ang -feald and ang -weard are often written with a diphthong even when they would have been pronounced -fald, -ward. Note that after an unstressed syllable, i.e. when the word it suffixes is multisyllabic, the long vowel/diphthong is retained even absent inflectional endings: ang brōþorlīċ brotherly, ang mæġdenlīċ girlish. Note that personal names are stressed exactly the same way, with alterations such as Ælfred ("Alfred"), Ælfrēdes ("Alfred's") and Ēadward, Ēadweardes. Throughout Old English, the palatal stops [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ] were depalatalized directly before a consonant: -līcne (acc. sg. masc.), līcra (gen. pl.). This rule can also be seen in many other words, such as ang þenċan, 2,3sg. pr. ind. þencst, þencþ, whence Modern English en think. Note that the palatal fricatives [ʃ] and [j] remained palatal in this condition.279 Palatalization never occurred directly before a back vowel (a, o, u) except to initial /sk/, so the c is pronounced like a hard k in the inflections -līcum, -līca, and -līcan; also nom. sg. fem./nom-acc. pl. neut. -līc(u), which always ended in *-u at the time of palatalization. This same rule also produced many other alterations such as ang fisċ fish, pl. fiscas (later also fixas by metathesis); ang wīċ village, pl. wīc (whence Modern English en -wich and en -wick by leveling); and ang ġelīċ like, dat. pl. ġelīcum, nom. sg. fem./nom-acc. pl. neut. ġelīc, nom. pl. fem. ġelīca, etc., whence Modern English en like. So for most words ending in ġ, ċ, or sċ; note however that a few words once featured a following *(i)j which blocked a back vowel from preventing palatalization and later vanished, as in ang rīċe kingdom, pl. ang rīċu ← *rīkju.1 253 Also, historical i-stems began to take non-i-stem endings only after palatalization had run its course: ang swēġ sound, pl. swēġas ← *swōġī. Finally, [j] from original /j/ (as opposed to /ɣ/) was never depalatalized: ang twēoġan to doubt ← *twihōjan. Declension -līċ Derived terms ang Descendants enm -ly adjectival 1 References