-tig

Forms

-tiġ^[1] Northumbrian also -tih.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *tigiwiz (“decades, groups of ten”), the plural of Proto-Germanic *teguz (“group of ten”).^[1][4] The noun stands free in Gothic 𐍄𐌹𐌲𐌿𐍃 (tigus) (plural 𐍄𐌹𐌲𐌾𐌿𐍃 (tigjus)) and Old Norse tigr, and as a suffix in Old Saxon -tig, Old Frisian -tich and Old High German -zug.^[4][5][6] Kroonen takes the noun to be probably made from Proto-Germanic *tehun (“ten”), and Orel takes it as continuing a rarely attested variant Proto-Indo-European *deḱú- of the word for ten.^[4][5] Bosworth and Toller explain the ⟨g⟩ beside the ⟨h⟩ of tīen by Verner's Law.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The suffix is first dated in the will of the reeve Abba of 833×839, a single sheet of the first half of the ninth century held to be contemporary: in its endorsement Heregyth's yearly render to Christ Church, Canterbury, includes ðritig ombra alað, “thirty ambers of ale”, and fiftig hwitehlafa, “fifty white loaves”.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

It forms the tens from twenty to a hundred and twenty: twēntiġ to fīftiġ and siextiġ take the suffix alone, and seventy to a hundred and twenty add hund- in front, as hundseofontiġ, hundtēontiġ and hundtwelftiġ.^[10][7] The prefix is already left out at times in early West Saxon, where the Orosius has seofontiġ, and the reason it is confined to the decades above sixty is disputed.^[10] In metre -tiġ- always bears a beat, unlike the adjective suffix -iġ.^[10] The ordinals end in -tigoþa.^[11]

In Middle English the suffix is -ti, in twenti to ninti, and the numbers it formed are often used as ordinals too.^[12] It survives as English -ty.^[13]

Timeline

• 833×839 – ðritig and fiftig in the endorsement of Abba's will, in a contemporary single sheet.^[8][9]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – seofontiġ without hund- in the Old English Orosius.^[10][14]

Meanings

Suffix

1. -ty: forming the cardinal numbers of the decades, from twenty to a hundred and twenty.^[7][6][2]

Word family

• twēntiġ
• þrītiġ
• fēowertiġ
• fīftiġ
• hundseofontiġ
• hundeahtatiġ
• hundtēontiġ
• hundtwelftiġ

Descendants

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

Related words

• tīen

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Campbell, A. (1959), Old English Grammar, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. § 686
3. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 7.52
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 512
5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 403
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. -tig
7. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 983
8. ^ a b The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 1482
9. ^ a b Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ a b c d Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 4.89
11. ^ Campbell, A. (1959), Old English Grammar, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. § 694
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ 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. 249