Thomas Davidson

“ Anglicism, witticism. [L. -ismus, -asmus—Gr. -ismos, -asmos.]
-ist, denoting the person who holds a doctrine or practises an art, as Calvinist, chemist, novelist, artist, royalist, nihilist. [L. -ista—Gr. -istēs.]
-ite, -it, noun suffix, born in, belonging to, as Israelite, Jesuit. [L. -ita—Gr. -itēs.]
-itude, noun suffix, as fortitude, multitude. [L. -itudo.]
-ive (-iff) , forming nouns, orig. an adjectival suffix, as bailiff, captive, native, plaintiff; forming adjectives (L. -ivus) , as active, extensive, furtive. ”

“ This is cog. with Ice. hundrað, Ger. hundert, the suffix implying number, reckoning.
-ric, noun suffix, formerly an independent word denoting dominion, power, region, as bishopric. [A.S. ríce, power.]
-right, as upright, downright. [A.S. riht.]
-ry, noun suffix, originally with a collective meaning, as chevalerie, 'body of knights;' now expressing action or quality, as bigotry, pedantry, sorcery; condition, as outlawry, slavery; trade, as carpentry, heraldry; the place of action or occupation, as laundry, nursery; the result or product of action, as poetry, tapestry ”

“ Be- (A.S.) , the most fertile of all English prefixes, is the weak form of by. The original meaning was 'about.' (1) It forms derivative verbs, with the sense of 'around,' 'on all sides,' 'in all directions,' as beblear=to blear all over, begirdle, bejumble, bepaste, besmudge; (2) it forms intensive verbs, with the sense of 'thoroughly,' 'soundly,' as bebreech=to breech soundly, bedaub, bewelcome; (3) it renders intransitive verbs transitive by adding a prepositional relation, as bechatter=to environ with chattering, begaze=to gaze at, besmile=to smile at, bespeak ”

“ Ob- (L., by assimilation, o-, ob-, oc-, of-, op-, also os-) , in front of, against, in the way of, as obstruct, omit, occur, offer, oppose, ostentation. [Cog. with Gr. epi, Sans. api.]
Oc-, as in occur. See Ob-.
Of-, as in offer. See Ob-.
Off- (A.S.) , off, from, away, as offal, offshoot, offset. [A form of Of. There is the same relation between of and off as between be and by; A.S. of has been differentiated into the stressless or weak form of, and the stressed or strong form off. Cf. A-, Ab-.] ”

“ Note that riches was mistaken for a plural, being really M. E. richesse—Fr. richesse. [L. -itia, -ities, Late L. -icia, Fr. -esse.]
-est, as in harvest, earnest.
-est, suffix of 2d sing. in verbs, as bringest. [A.S. -ast, -est; L. -es, -isti; Gr. -si, -sthon. -s or -st = 2d pers. pron., Gr. sy (su) , L. tu, Eng. thou.]
-est, superl. suffix, formed from the compar. by adding -t, as smallest. [A.S. -est (in adjectives) , -ost (in adverbs) ; L. -issimus, Gr. -istos, -stos, -tatos. Sans. -ishta.]
-et, -ete, noun suffix, marking the agent, as prophet, poet, athlete. [L. -ēta, Gr. -ētēs.] ”

“ It. -accio, Fr. -as.]
-aster, dim. and freq. (often implying contempt) , as poetaster. [Fr. -artre (It. astro) —L. -as-ter.]
-ate, -ete, -ite, -ute, -t, forming adjectives—all adapted forms of the endings of past participles in Latin according to the conjugation of the verbs from which they are formed, as accurate, desolate; complete, replete; contrite, exquisite; absolute, minute; abject, elect.
-ate, verbal suffix, as navigate, permeate. Adj., as above. Noun, as legate, advocate. [Norm. Fr. at—L. -ātus, suffix of pa.p.] ”

“ Ger. -chen.]
-kind, noun suffix, kind, race, as mankind, womankind. [See -kin above.]
-l, -le, -el (after v, th, ch, n) , represents A.S. -el, -ela, -ele, and serves to form agent-nouns, instrumental substantives, and diminutives, as nail, sail; beadle, fiddle, sickle, apple, bramble, bundle, icicle, nettle; runnel. -al is sometimes from A.S. -els from isli, as bridle, riddle, burial. -l, -le, as a verbal suffix, gives to the root the sense of frequency, repetition, diminution, as kneel, drizzle, nestle, sparkle. ”

“ It appears as a-, ab-, ac-, ad-, af-, ag-, al-, an-, ap-, ar-, as-, at-, as in achieve, abbreviate, accede, admire, affix, aggregate, allot, annex, approve, arrive, assign, attract. The words achieve, agree, amerce, amount, acquit, acquaint, avow, &c. show the same prefix, derived through the medium of Old French. [L. ad; cog. with Sans. adhi, Goth. and Eng. at, Celt. ar-.] ”

“ See -est, superl. suffix.]
-n, in participles, as broken, hewn; in substantives, as bairn, beacon, burden, chin, corn, heaven, maiden.
-nce, -ncy, forming abstract nouns, as distance, decency. [Fr. -nce—L. -nt-ia.]
-nd, as fiend (lit. 'hating') , friend (lit. 'loving') . [A.S. pr.p. suffix.]
-ness, noun suffix, denoting abstract idea, as tenderness, sweetness. [A.S. -nis, -nes, cog. with Ger. -niss.]
-ock, dim., as hillock, bullock—also in proper names, as Pollock (from Paul) , &c. ”

“ The (') is prob. due to a false notion that this -s was a relic of his.]
-s, -se, verbal suffix, making transitive verbs from adjectives, as cleanse (A.S. clǽnsian) , rinse (Ice. hreinsa—hreinn, pure) . It also occurs in clasp, grasp, put for clap-s, grap-s.
-ship, -scape, noun suffix, as friendship, stewardship, worship, landscape (earlier landskip, the Dut. landschap) . [A.S. scipe, shape, form—scapan; cog. with Ger. -schaft.] ”

“ The modern tendency is to confine -nce to action, and to express quality or state by -ncy; cf. compliance, pliancy, annoyance, buoyancy.
-and, -end, noun suffix, as viand, legend. [L. -andus, -endus, gerundial suffix.]
-aneous, belonging to, as extraneous. [L. -aneus.]
-ant, -ent, adj. suffix, as repentant, patient. Also noun suffix, sometimes denoting the agent, as instant, sergeant, student, innocent. [L. -ans, -ant-is, or -ens, -ent-is, suffix of pr.p.] ”

“ See -ery.]
-erly, direction to or from, as southerly. [From -ern and -ly.]
-ern, adj. suffix sig. direction, as southern [A.S. -er-n] ; adj. suffix, sig. belonging to, as modern [L. -ernus] ; noun suffix, as cistern [L. -erna] .
-ery, noun suffix, as brewery, witchery, cutlery. [Noun suffix -y added to nouns in -er (marking agent) . See -ary, -erie, -ory.] ”

“ Contra-, Contro-, Contr-, Counter- (L.) , against, as contradict, controvert, contralto, counteract. [L. contra (whence Fr. contre) , from Con-, and -tra, from root tar, to cross, seen also in trans.]
De- (L., or Fr.—L.) , down, from, away, occurs in words derived either directly from L., as deduce; or through the Fr. from L., in which case De-, Di-, represents either (1) O. Fr. des- from L. dis-, asunder, not, as in defeat (O. Fr. des-fait) , or (2) Fr.—L. de-, as describe [lit. 'write down'] , decompose. ”

“ Fr. -if from L. -ivus; cf. -ive] ; as silly, dirty, any [A.S. -ig; cog. with Ger. -ig, Goth. -ha, -ga, L. -cu-s, Gr. -ko-s] .
-y, noun suffix, as story, family, Italy [Fr. -ie, L. -ia] ; as augury, joy, remedy [from L. -ium] ; as ally, clergy, deputy, treaty [from L. -ātus, Fr. -é] ; as progeny [from L. -ies] ; as army, country, entry [from L. -āta, Fr. ée] ; as body [from A.S. -ig] ; and perhaps the modern Eng. in forming diminutives or words of contempt, as puppy, baby, lassie, from pup, babe, lass; Billy from Bill; Betsy, Lizzie, &c.
-yer, as in lawyer. See -er, noun suffix. ”

“ Per- (L.) , through, as permit; thoroughly, as perfect; also appearing as par-, pel-, pil-, as in parson, pardon, pellucid, pilgrim. In perjure, perish, it has a destructive force, equivalent to Eng. for- in forswear (for-, A.S.) . ”

“ See -ther, and cf. -or, -our, -er.
-tor-y, -sor-y, noun suffix, denoting place, as dormitory.
-tude forms abstract nouns, as gratitude. [L. -tudo.]
-ty, being or state of being, as dignity; quality, as honesty. [L. -tas, -tatem; O. Fr. -té.] ”

“ O. Fr. -eis, mod. Fr. -ois, -ais.]
-esque, adj. suffix, partaking of the quality of, as picturesque, grotesque, Turneresque. [Fr. -esqe (It. -esco) —L. -iscus, a by-form of -icus (see -ic) , and conn. with -ish, adj. suffix.] ”