*-izô
Runic: ᛁᛉᛟ Pronunciation: /i.zɔːː/suffix · forms adjectives · an/īn-stem
Function
forms weak comparative adjectives, equivalent to Modern English “-er” or ‘more’, with the sense ‘more X, X-er’
Etymology
From the zero-grade, *-is-, of the Proto-Indo-European comparative/elative suffix *-yos- ~ *-is-. The Proto-Germanic forms consist of *-iz- plus weak n-stem adjectival inflection. In Proto-Germanic, comparatives in *-izô were inflected only weakly, unlike ordinary positive adjectives, which could have both strong and weak forms. Besides the comparative suffix *-izô , Proto-Germanic also developed another comparative suffix, *-ōzô, that was mostly used with a/ō-stem adjectives. Both of these suffixes continued to be used in Gothic; however, *-izô lost its productivity and was replaced by *-ōzô as the main comparative suffix for all other branches of the Germanic family (Fulk 2018: 218–20; Ringe 2017: 316–18).
Paradigm
Strong declension
| Case | Sg. Masc. | Sg. Fem. | Sg. Neut. | Pl. Masc. | Pl. Fem. | Pl. Neut. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Acc. | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Gen. | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Dat. | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Inst. | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Weak declension
| Case | Sg. Masc. | Sg. Fem. | Sg. Neut. | Pl. Masc. | Pl. Fem. | Pl. Neut. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. | -izô | -izį̄ | -izô | -izaniz | -izīniz | -izōnō |
| Acc. | -izanų | -izīnų | -izô | -izanunz | -izīnunz | -izōnō |
| Gen. | -iziniz | -izīniz | -iziniz | -izanǫ̂ | izīnǫ̂ | -izanǫ̂ |
| Dat. | -izini | -izīni | -izini | -izammaz | -izīmaz | -izammaz |
| Inst. | -izinē | -izīnē | -izinē | -izammiz | -izīmiz | -izammiz |
Descendants
-
*-iʀō (Proto-West Germanic)
-
-iro, -ero (Old Dutch)
-
-er (Middle Dutch)
- -er (Dutch)
-
-er (Middle Dutch)
-
-iro, -ero (Old Dutch)
-
*-iʀō (Proto-West Germanic)
-
-ra (Old English)
-
-ere, -er, -ore, -re (Middle English)
- -er (English)
-
-ere, -er, -ore, -re (Middle English)
-
-ra (Old English)
-
*-iʀō (Proto-West Germanic)
-
-ra (Old English)
-
-ere, -er, -ore, -re (Middle English)
-
-ar, -ir (Middle Scots)
- -er (Scots)
-
-ar, -ir (Middle Scots)
-
-ere, -er, -ore, -re (Middle English)
-
-ra (Old English)
-
*-iʀō (Proto-West Germanic)
-
-ere (Old Frisian)
- -ere (West Frisian)
-
-ere (Old Frisian)
-
*-iʀō (Proto-West Germanic)
-
-iro (Old High German)
-
-er (Middle High German)
- -er (German)
-
-er (Middle High German)
-
-iro (Old High German)
-
-ri (Old Norse)
- -re (Danish)
- -ri (Faroese)
- -ri (Icelandic)
- -re (Norwegian)
- -re (Swedish)
- -𐌹𐌶𐌰 (-iza) (Gothic)