(Forms: 1 -iʓ, 2–5 -i, 4–6 -ye, 4–7 -ie, 4– -y, 6– now only in certain cases -ey), descending from the OE. adj. suffix -iʓ, which represents under a common form two OTeut. suffixes *-īʓa-, -aʓa-, still distinguishable in OE. by the presence or absence respectively of mutation of the stem vowel of the sb. to which it is added, e.g., módiʓ MOODY :— *mōdaʓa-, f. *mōda- MOOD sb.1, mihtiȝ MIGHTY :— *mahtīʓa., f. *mahtiz MIGHT, stániʓ STONY beside stǽniʓ, þurstiʓ beside þyrstiʓ THIRSTY.
OTeut. *īʓa-, -aʓa- are differentiated forms of Indo-eur. -qo- (Skr. -ka-, Gr. -κο-, L. -cu-) arising from application of the suffix to i- and a- stems, respectively. In other Teut. languages the following forms are found: OFris. -ig, Os. ig, (MDu. ig, -ich, Du. -ig), OHG. -īg (MHG. -ig, -eg, -ec, G. -ig), ON. -igr, Goth. -eigs, -igs; OS. -ag, OHG. -ag, -ah, ON. -agr, Goth. -ags, -ahs; also OHG. -uh, ON. -ugr, Goth. -ugs.
When the suffix is appended to a sb. ending in y, the convention of modern spelling requires it to be spelt -ey, as in clayey, skyey, wheyey. When the sb. ends in -e preceded by a vowel, the e is retained, as bluey, gluey; in other cases there may be variation, as homey, homy, liney, liny, nosey, nosy.
1. The general sense of this suffix is ‘having the qualities of’ or ‘full of’ that which is denoted by the sb. to which it is added, as icy = (1) of the nature of, having the appearance, hardness, coldness, slipperiness, transparency, etc., of ice; (2) full of or covered with ice. In OE. there was a very large number of such adjs., many of which have a continuous history from the earliest times to the present day; in the case of some, however, e.g., clayey, icy, rainy, wintry, there is a significant gap in the evidence, which suggests that they may have dropped out of use and have been formed afresh later. There are some noteworthy instances of new formations in late OE., e.g., dohtiʓ DOUGHTY replacing dyhtiʓ, dústiʓ DUSTY, snáwiʓ SNOWY replacing snáwlic. To several OE. adjs. in -iʓ there were parallel formations in -iht, as ísiʓ, ísiht icy, sandiʓ, sandiht sandy, þorniʓ, þorniht and þyrniht thorny; the disappearance of this latter suffix left freer scope of development for the forms in -iʓ.
In ME. the number of these derivatives does not seem to have been at first greatly increased; the following fresh coinages are exemplified first from texts before 1300, dready, fiery, frighty, hairy (cf. OE. hæriht), happy, needy, sleepy (but cf. OE. unslǽpiʓ), tidy (c. 1250 = in good condition); there are occasional parasynthetic compounds, as sort-leui short-lived. The addition of the suffix to non-native sbs. is at least as early as the 13th cent., e.g., savoury in the Ancren Riwle. The fourteenth cent., esp. the later half, was prolific in new formations; to this period belong angry, bushy, earthy, fatty, flowery, heady, hearty, milky, miry, mouldy, mucky, naughty, smoky, sweaty, and many more. The sixteenth cent. was also a prolific period; to it belong, e.g., cottony, frothy, dirty, healthy, leafy (but leavy is 15th cent.), mealy, saucy, sugary, viny, woolly, yeasty. Others, such as bulky, measly, noisy (Dryden), peppery, racy, skyey are recorded first from the 17th cent.
Later new derivatives tend in a large measure to be colloquial, undignified, or trivial, as bumpy, dumpy, flighty, hammy, liney, loopy, lumpy, lungy, messy, oniony, treey, verminy, vipery; some are from verbs, as dangly. Contextually, the application of the adj. may be narrowed in any direction, as mousy = (1) resembling a mouse, (2) quiet as a mouse, or (3) infested with mice. A sense ‘addicted to’ (cf. 3), as in booky, doggy, horsy, is of modern growth.
1850. Thackeray, Contrib. to Punch, Wks. 1900, VI. 163. Grizzel had brought me an oniony knife to cut the bread.
1869. Mrs. Whitney, We Girls, ii. Bedsteads and washstands and bureaus—the very things that made up-stairs look so very bedroomy.
1891. M. Muriel Dowie, Girl in Karp., xi. 144. Fretwork brackets and crystal dangly things.
2. In the 15th cent., if not earlier, certain monosyllabic adjs. were extended by means of this suffix, app. with the design of giving them a more adjectival appearance, e.g., hugy f. huge, leany f. lean. The majority of such words arose in the 16th and 17th cent.; examples are: bleaky, chilly, cooly, dusky, fainty, haughty, hoary, lanky, paly adj.1, plumpy, slighty, slippery, stouty, swarty, thicky, vasty. In this application the suffix has not infrequently come to express much the same notion as -ish; this is particularly so with color-epithets, as blacky, yellowy, and esp. when these are used quasi-advb., as greeny-blue, bluey-green, reddy-brown.
3. As early as the 13th c. this suffix began to be used with verb-stems to express the meaning ‘inclined or apt to’ do something, or ‘giving occasion to’ a certain action; in the Ancren Riwle alone we have slibbri, sliddri, sluggi, slummi. Chaucer has sleepy = soporific. In the 16th cent. arose choky, drowsy, slippy, sticky; later we find blowy, clingy, floaty, quavery, rollicky. The immediate etymon of such adjs. cannot always be ascertained.
4. From the early years of the 19th cent. the suffix has been used still more freely in nonce-words designed to connote such characteristics of a person or thing as call for condemnation, ridicule, or contempt; hence such adjs. as beery, catty, churchy, jumpy, newspapery, piggy, tinny.
