*-līk

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs the suffix *-līk for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and de Vaan writes it *-līk-.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *-līkaz (“-like, -ly”),^[3][4] which Köbler sets up as *-līka-, *-līkaz.^[5]

Morphology

An adjective-forming suffix.^[4] Old Saxon and Old English also have adverbs in -līko and -līce.^[4] Formed to a noun, it denotes likeness to the base word; formed to an adjective, this sense could fade early, so that base and derivative look like synonyms.^[4] Old High German soon built compound suffixes such as -īglīh and -aglīh, which became very productive.^[4] De Vaan notes that the suffix kept a secondary accent for a long time, which explains the early palatalization in the Old Dutch Psalms form ⟨eiselika⟩ beside ⟨egislikes⟩.^[2]

Evidence

The suffix is found in all the West Germanic languages: Old English -līc,^[6] Old Frisian -lik,^[7] Old Saxon -līk,^[8] Old Dutch -līk^[9] and Old High German -līh,^[4] as well as in Old Norse and Gothic.^[4] Ringe and Taylor note that all the attested Germanic languages, including Gothic, show the development into a suffix, which may have begun in Proto-Germanic.^[10]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor and EWA trace the suffix to the Proto-Germanic noun *līką "body", which as the second member of possessive compounds meant "shape, form" and became a suffix meaning "of … kind", "having the shape of".^[10][4] Fulk reports this as the more common view, citing Krahe and Meid, but finds the development simpler if *-līk- was an adjective all along, so that *xwi-līkaz first meant "like what?"; he points to a Gothic adverb meaning "in manly fashion" and to Old English fēondlic (“hostile”).^[11] EWA keeps the suffix apart from formations in pre-Proto-Germanic *-li-ko-, such as Old High German sulh (“such”), which extend old adjectives in *-li-; the two types influenced each other.^[4]

Meanings

1. -like, -ly: forming adjectives with the sense "similar to, characteristic of"^[1][4]

Ringe and Taylor gloss the suffix "of … kind".^[10]

Derivatives

• *galīk "similar", which Wiktionary analyses as *ga- and the suffix;^[12] Ringe and Taylor reconstruct it from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz: Old English ġelīċ, Old Frisian līk, Old Saxon gilīk, Old High German gilīh.^[13] From it they derive *līkattjan "to pretend, to flatter"^[13] and *galīkanassī "similarity, image".^[14]
• Ringe and Taylor reconstruct Proto-Germanic *swalīkaz (“of such a kind”), Proto-Germanic *hwilīkaz (“of what kind?”) and Proto-Germanic *leubalīkaz (“desirable, lovely”), each continued in Old English, Old Saxon and Old High German.^[10]

Reflexes

• Old English: -līc (“-ly”)^[6]
• Old Frisian: -lik (“-ly”)^[7]
• Old Saxon: -līk (“-ly”)^[8]
• Old Dutch: -līk (“-ly”)^[9]
• Old High German: -līh (“-ly”)^[4]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *-līk
2. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2017), The Dawn of Dutch: Language Contact in the Western Low Countries before 1200, NOWELE Supplement Series 30, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 156
3. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *-līkaz
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. -lîh
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *-līka-
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. -līc
7. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. -lik
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. līk
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. -līk
10. ^ a b c d Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 521
11. ^ Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *galīkaz
13. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 129
14. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 132