Substantive Suffixes

Here we find a group of suffixes which are added to substantive or verb stems to derive names of the doer. Each of them is connected with a grammatical gender.

Thus, the suffix-ereis used to derive masculine substantives: fiscere 'fisherman', fu™elere 'fowler', wrītere 'writer', 'scribe', also: þrōwere 'sufferer'. The suffix corresponds to the Gothic suffix -areis: in laisareis 'teacher', bōkareis 'bookman', and Russian-арь in пахарь, вратарь. The suffix is productive.

The suffix-estre is used to derive feminine substantives: spinnestre 'spinner' bæcest-e 'woman baker', аlso wite™estre 'prophetess'.

The suffix-end (connected with the participle suffix –ende) is used to derive masculine substantives: frēond ‘friend’, fēond ‘hater’, 'enemy', hælend 'saviour', dēmend 'judge', wealdend 'ruler'.

The suffix -in™ is used to derive patronymics: æelin™ 'son of a nobleman', 'prince', cynin™ 'king', Ɲelwulfin™ 'son of Æthelwulf'’ etc. It is also used to derive substantives from adjectives, as in , lytlin™ 'baby', earmin™ 'poor fellow'. The suffix is productive. An enlarged variant of this suffix,-lin™, serves to derive substantives with some emotional colouring (depending on the meaning of the stem): ™ōslin™ 'gosling', dēorlin™ 'darling', hyrlin™ 'hireling'. It is also productive.

The suffix -en is used to derive feminine substantives from masculine stems. As its original shape was –in, it is always accom­panied by mutation: ™yden ’goddes’ (< *™udin), cf. ™od 'god', fyxen 'vixen' (<* fuxin), cf. fox ‘fox’.

The suffix-nis, -nes is used to derive abstract substantives from adjective stems: ™ōdnis 'goodness', þrēnes 'trinity'. It is pro­ductive.

The suffix -þ,-uþ, -oþ is used to derive abstract substantives; sometimes it is accompanied by mutation: treowþ 'truth’ from treow 'true', þiefþ 'theft’ from þēof ‘thief', ™eo™uþ 'youth' (cf. ™eon™ 'young'), ftscoþ 'fishing', cf. fisc 'fish', huntoþ 'hunting', cf. hunta ‘hunter'.

The suffix-un™, -in™ derives feminine verbal substantives: leornun™, leornin™ 'learning', monun™ 'admonishing', rædin™ 'reading. It is productive.

Some suffixes originated from substantives. Thus from the substantive dōm, 'doom' came the suffix -dōm, as in wīsdōm 'wisdom', frēodōm 'freedom'. The substantive hād ‘title’, 'rank' yielded the suffix -hād, as in cildhād 'childhood’, mæ™þhad 'virginity'.

The substantive lāc ‘gift’ yielded the suffix-lāc, as in rēoflāc 'robbery’ from the stem of the verb rēafian 'bereave', wedlāc 'wedlock’, scīnlāc ‘fantasy'.

The substantive ræden 'arrangement’, 'agreement’ yielded the suffix -ræden, as in frēondræden ‘friendship’ sibbræden 'relationship', mannræden 'faithfulness’.

The suffix -scipe (cf. the verb scieppan 'create') is found in the substantives frēondscipe 'friendship', weorþscipe 'honour', ™ebēorscipe 'feast' (from bēor 'beer').

There is another phenomenon which must be mentioned in connection with suffixation. Some abstract substantives are derived from adjective stems without any suffix; they differ from the adjectives by their paradigm (as feminine ō-stems) and by mutation of the root vowel, due to the original suffix-in, e.g. len™u 'length’ from lon™ 'long’, stren™u 'strength' from stron™ 'strong', brædu 'breadth' from brād 'broad', hætu 'heat' from hāt 'hot', hælu 'salvation' from hāl 'whole' ieldu 'old age' from eald 'old', wræþþu ‘wrath’ from wrāþ ‘wroth’.