*-inassuz

Runic: ᛁᚾᚨᛊᚢᛉ Pronunciation: /i.nɑs.suz/

suffix · forms nouns · masculine · u-stem

Function

forms abstract nouns denoting a state, condition, office, practice, action, or domain associated with the base; ‘-ness, -hood, -ship, -dom’

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *-inōną + *-assuz. It is a result of reanalysis of forms in which the suffix *-assuz was added to weak or denominative verbal stems in *-inō-. The suffix *-assuz probably arose from the coalescence of stem-final *-at- with the inherited nominal suffix *-tu-s. Forms of the type *X-in-assuz were reinterpreted as containing a single suffix *X-inassuz (Kluge 1899: 69–70; Krahe & Meid 1969: 159–62; Ringe 2017: 325). This suffix became extremely productive in the West Germanic languages (cf. English -ness, Dutch-nis, and German -nis) (Ringe & Taylor 2014: 131–32).

Paradigm

CaseSingularPlural
Nom.-inassuz-inassiwiz
Acc.-inassų-inassunz
Gen.-inassauz-inassiwǫ̂
Dat.-inassiwi-inassumaz
Inst.-inassū-inassumiz
Voc.-inassu-inassiwiz

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Descendants

  • *-nassī, *-nassi, *-nussi (Proto-West Germanic)
    • -nissi, -nussi (Old Dutch)
      • -nisse (Middle Dutch)
        • -nis (Dutch)
          • -nis (Afrikaans)
  • *-nassī, *-nassi, *-nussi (Proto-West Germanic)
    • -nes, -ness, -nis, -niss, -nys, -nyss (Old English)
      • -nesse, -ness, -nes, -nece, -nesce, -nisse, -nis, -næse, -næs, -nez (Middle English)
        • -ness (English)
        • -nes (Scots)
  • *-nassī, *-nassi, *-nussi (Proto-West Germanic)
    • -nisse, -ense (Old Frisian)
      • -nisse, -nis (Saterland Frisian)
      • -ens (West Frisian)
  • *-nassī, *-nassi, *-nussi (Proto-West Germanic)
    • -nissi, -nussi (Old High German)
      • -nisse, -nusse, -nüsse (Middle High German)
        • -nis, -niß, -nüß, -nuß (German)
        • ־ניש (-nish) (Yiddish)
  • *-nassī, *-nassi, *-nussi (Proto-West Germanic)
    • -nessi, -nissi, -nussi (Old Saxon)
      • -nisse (Middle Low German)
        • -nisse, -nis (Low German)
  • -𐌹𐌽𐌰𐍃𐍃𐌿𐍃 (-inassus) (Gothic)

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