-ing

-ing¹ verbal noun

Etymology

The suffix of verbal nouns is inherited from Middle English -ing, also -inge,^[1][2][3] inherited from Old English -ung, also -ing,^[3][4][5][6] from Proto-Germanic *-ingō, *-ungō.^[1][4] It is cognate with Old Frisian -unge, Old Saxon -unga, Dutch -ing, Old High German -unga, German -ung and Old Norse -ing.^[3][5][7] The OED notes that it is not known in Gothic and has not been identified outside Germanic.^[3] In Old English -ung was the more usual form; it died out rapidly in early Middle English and is rarely found after 1250.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest use was to form nouns of action from weak verbs, as with ācsung (“asking”) from ācsian, and it was extended to strong verbs already in Old English, as with eting (“eating”).^[5][3] Old English also had a sense of completed action or habit, as in blētsung (“blessing”) and leornung (“learning”), and of the concrete product, as in offrung (“offering”).^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

Before 1200 the suffix was being used with verbs of any class, native or borrowed.^[5] A single occasion (a wedding, a meeting), an art or practice (reading), and a product (a writing, a binding) all developed from the sense of action.^[3][5] It came to name material collectively (bedding, clothing), so that -ing could be added where no verb existed, as with coping, scaffolding and tubing.^[5][3][7] Some senses appear chiefly in the plural (earnings, sweepings).^[3] The most notable development is the gerund, which takes an object and is qualified by adverbs, as in writing letters; this use grew in Middle English after the suffix and the present participle had come to look alike.^[3][7]

Timeline

• Old English – -ung, -ing, nouns of action from weak verbs, then strong ones.^[3][5]
• before 1200 – used with verbs of any class.^[5]
• early Middle English – -inge replaces -ung, which is rare after 1250.^[3]
• 14th century – development of the gerund begins.^[3]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forming nouns from verbs for an action, process or occupation: swimming, farming.^[8][2][3]
2. Forming nouns for a single instance or event: a christening, a ruling.^[2][3]
3. Forming nouns for the result or product of an action: a painting.^[7][3][2]
4. Forming nouns for material used in or connected with something: roofing, carpeting.^[8][3][2]
5. Forming the gerund of verbs: He enjoys climbing mountains.^[3][2]

Word family

• blessing
• building
• clothing
• learning
• meeting
• tubing
• wedding

-ing² present participle

Etymology

The suffix of the present participle is inherited from Middle English -inge, an alteration of -inde and -ende,^[2][6][1][7] inherited from Old English -ende,^[3][4][2][6] from Proto-Germanic *-andz,^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *-nt-.^[4][1] It is cognate with Old Frisian -and, Old Saxon -and, Old High German -anti, German -end, Old Norse -andi and Gothic -𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃 (-ands), and outside Germanic with Latin -ent-, Ancient Greek -οντ- (-ont-) and Sanskrit -अन्त् (-ant-).^[3][1][7] The OED says that the change to -inge was in origin purely a matter of sound and spelling, not of function, and is especially noticeable in manuscripts by Anglo-Norman scribes.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English the participle in -ende was used as an adjective, as in lifende (“living”).^[4] It weakened to -inde in later Old English, and this became the regular Southern form in early Middle English.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the end of the 12th century -inde was confused with -inge in speech and writing, and by the 14th century -inge had generally replaced it.^[3] The Kentish Ayenbite of 1340 still has -inde, and Gower often has -ende, but the form favoured by Chaucer, Hoccleve and Lydgate became standard.^[3] Northern English and Scots kept -and, which remains distinct from the verbal noun in Northumberland and southern Scotland ("a singan' burd", but "the singin o' the burds").^[3] Identity of form with the verbal noun may have furthered the gerund, and helped to shorten a-hunting to hunting.^[3] Adjectives from the participle include charming, cunning and willing.^[9][5] Etymonline says that in modern idiom it can be hard to tell which -ing is meant.^[4]

Timeline

• later Old English – -ende often weakened to -inde.^[3]
• end of the 12th century – growing confusion of -inde with -inge.^[3]
• 13th century – the confusion is marked in Anglo-Norman scribes' manuscripts.^[3][4]
• 14th century – -inge generally replaces -inde.^[3]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forming the present participle of verbs: She is running.^[8][2][7]
2. Forming adjectives from a participle or in imitation of one: a burning candle, swashbuckling.^[8][2][9]

Word family

• charming
• cunning
• willing
• living

-ing³ one belonging to; descendant

Etymology

The suffix meaning one belonging to is inherited from Middle English -ynge, also -ing,^[1][2] inherited from Old English -ing, also -ung,^[3][4][2][6] from Proto-Germanic *-ingaz.^[1] It is found in the same form or as -ung in the other Germanic languages, as in Old High German -ing and Old Norse -ingr.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English used it for people (æþeling (“atheling”), cyning (“king”)), for patronymics such as Æþelwulfing, son of Æthelwulf, and for peoples such as the Centingas, men of Kent.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It also named coins and fractional parts, as in scilling (“shilling”), pending (“penny”) and feorþing (“farthing”).^[3] It survives in place names such as Birmingham and Nottingham, where it denotes a tribe or community,^[4] and in words such as gelding, herring, sweeting and whiting.^[3][9] The compound suffix -ling is formed with it.^[3][9]

Meanings

Suffix

1. (no longer productive) Forming nouns meaning one of a stated kind, or a descendant: atheling, wilding.^[3][2][9]

Word family

• atheling
• farthing
• gelding
• king
• shilling