(Forms: 1 -líc, -lic, 2–5 -lich, 4–5 -liche, 3–5 north. -lik(e, (3 Orm. -lic, -liȝ, -like), 3–6 -li, 4– -ly), appended to sbs. and adjs. to form adjs., represents the OE. -līc, corresponding to OFris., OS. -lîk (Du. -lijk), OHG. -lîk (MHG. -lîch, mod.G. -lich), ON. -lig-r, -leg-r (Sw., Da. -lig), Goth. -leik-s:—OTeut. -lîko- The phonology of the OE. form, as also of the mod.G. and the ON. forms, is somewhat abnormal, the frequency in use of the suffix having caused loss of the original secondary stress, with consequent shortening of the vowel, and in ON. also voicing of the guttural. A further irregularity appears in the phonetic development in ME. The normal representation of OE. -lic was -lik in northern dialects and -lich in southern dialects. These forms are found as late as the 15th century; but the form -li, -ly, which (though parallel with the reduction of OE. ic to I, and of ME. everich to every) seems to be chiefly due to the influence of the Scandinavian -lig-, occurs in northern and midland dialects as early as the 13th c., and before the end of the 15th c. had become universal. In the Ormulum (c. 1200) -lic (rarely -like) is used before a vowel and at the end of a line, and -liȝ before a cons.; the inflected form -like (disyllabic) seems often to be used, for metrical reasons, where grammar would require the uninflected form. In the comparative and superlative (OE. -licra, -e, -licost) the ME. form had regularly -k according to phonetic law in all dialects in the south the usual 13–14th c. form was -lukere, -lokere); but where the positive had the form -li new comparatives and superlatives in -lier, liest were regularly formed from it.
The original Teut. adjs. in -lîko- were compounds of the sb. *lîkom appearance, form, body (see LICH). Thus *mannlîko- (‘manly’) means etymologically ‘having the appearance or form of a man’; gôđolîko- (‘goodly’) ‘having a good appearance or form,’ or ‘having the appearance or form of what is good.’ The primitive force of the suffix may therefore be rendered by ‘having the appearance or form indicated by the first element of the word’; but while in the historical Teut. langs. it has remained capable of expressing this meaning, it has in all of them acquired a much wider application.
When appended to sbs., the most general senses of the suffix in all Teut. langs. are ‘having the qualities appropriate to,’ ‘characteristic of,’ ‘befitting.’ In English of all periods it has been a prolific formative; the adjs. formed with it are most frequently eulogistic, as in kingly, knightly, masterly, princely, queenly, scholarly, soldierly (cf. manly, womanly with mannish, womanish); among the examples with dyslogistic sense are beastly, beggarly, cowardly, dastardly, rascally, ruffianly, scoundrelly. In OE., as in other Teut. langs., the suffix had often the sense ‘of or pertaining to’; but the adjs. have, so far as this meaning is concerned, been to a great extent superseded by synonyms of Latin or Romanic etymology. Thus manly formerly admitted of the senses now expressed by human and masculine; for one of the older senses of timely we must now say temporal. Another use of the suffix, common to English with other Teut. langs., is to form adjs. denoting periodic recurrence, as daily, hourly, monthly, nightly, weekly, yearly.
When -ly is appended to an adj., the resulting derivative adj. often connotes a quality related to or resembling that expressed by its primary; cf., e.g., OE. léof ‘dear’ with léoflic ‘lovely’ (or, as it might be rendered, ‘such as becomes dear’). The diminutive sense found in mod.G. gelblich yellowish, süsslich sweetish, though a very easy development from the original sense of the suffix, does not seem ever to have existed in English. Even in OE. -lic had app. ceased to be used in new formations from adjs.; the new adjs. f. adj. + -ly that have arisen in ME. or in mod.E. seem to be from the advs.
