-lic

Forms

-līċ (comparative -līcra, superlative -līcost)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *-līk, from Proto-Germanic *-līkaz, an adjective suffix made from *līką (“body; earlier form, shape”), the source of the Old English noun līċ (“body, corpse”).^[1] Köbler refers it to the homonymous adjective “like”, the base of ġelīċ.^[2] Kroonen takes the noun to have meant “likeness, shape” at first and derives it from the adjective *lika- (“similar, equal”), with Baltic relatives such as Lithuanian lýgus (“equal, level”).^[3] Wiktionary's Proto-Germanic page holds “similar to” to be the suffix's original sense.^[1]

The same suffix is found in Old Frisian -lik,^[4] Old Saxon -līk and Old High German -līh,^[2] in Old Norse -ligr^[5] and in Gothic -𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (-leiks).^[1] Toller notes that the vowel of the suffix seems to have been shortened early, though the long ⟨ī⟩ was kept now and then.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The suffix is already in the oldest English glossary: the Épinal Glossary, of the late seventh or about 700, glosses Latin matutinos “of the morning” with morgenlic.^[7][8] The Corpus Glossary of the early ninth century repeats the gloss.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller list it as the last part of a great many adjectives, beside the simple adjective ġelīċ.^[10] In Old English it made adjectives from nouns and adjectives with the sense “like, having the nature of, belonging to”, and it could also mark a multiple, like “-fold”.^[1][2] The Pastoral Care uses eorðlic “earthly” of the things a man ponders in his mind.^[11][8]

Later it appears as Middle English -li and -lich, added to words of Old English and Old Norse origin and then to new nouns.^[5] It is now the English suffix -ly, which Etymonline calls an irregular descendant of the Old English form and the same word as like.^[12]

Timeline

• s. vii ex. or vii/viii – morgenlic “of the morning” in the Épinal Glossary.^[7][8]
• s. ix¹ – morgenlic in the Corpus Glossary.^[9][8]
• 890×897 – eorðlic ðing “an earthly thing” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[11][8]

Meanings

Suffix

1. forming adjectives from nouns and adjectives: like, having the nature of, relating to.^[1][10][2]
2. marking a multiple: -fold.^[1]

Word family

• eorþlīċ
• heofonlīċ
• morgenlīċ
• gāstlīċ
• cynelīċ
• frēondlīċ
• dēadlīċ
• -līċe

Descendants

• Middle English -ly (→ English -ly; Scots -lie)^[1]

Related words

• līċ
• ġelīċ

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. -līc
3. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 336
4. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. -lik
5. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
6. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 614
7. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 610
8. ^ a b c d e f Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 76
10. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 636
11. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com