From denominal to deverbal
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Cynthia Lloyd
Abstract
This paper deals with one of the rival French suffixes which now form abstract nouns from verbs in English, as in recite/recital. Such formatives are often seen as semantically interchangeable, forming nouns with the core meaning ‘action/fact of V-ing.’ However, it can be argued that from their earliest appearance in English these suffixes began to select characteristically from a nexus of common meanings, both in the kinds of bases to which each suffix was attached, and in the kinds of contexts in which the formations tended to appear. This paper will suggest that deverbal derivatives in -al with action senses did not appear substantially until the seventeenth century, when a specialised meaning of ‘completed action’ possibly began to be favoured.
Abstract
This paper deals with one of the rival French suffixes which now form abstract nouns from verbs in English, as in recite/recital. Such formatives are often seen as semantically interchangeable, forming nouns with the core meaning ‘action/fact of V-ing.’ However, it can be argued that from their earliest appearance in English these suffixes began to select characteristically from a nexus of common meanings, both in the kinds of bases to which each suffix was attached, and in the kinds of contexts in which the formations tended to appear. This paper will suggest that deverbal derivatives in -al with action senses did not appear substantially until the seventeenth century, when a specialised meaning of ‘completed action’ possibly began to be favoured.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Tabula gratulatoria vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction xiii
-
Part I. History of dictionaries
- The Flores of Ouide (1513) 3
- “Halles Lanfranke” and its most excellent and learned expositive table 17
- John Lane’s Verball 41
- The linking of lemma to gloss in Elyot’s Dictionary (1538) 55
- Music amidst the tumult 79
- Chaos and old night 91
- Online dictionaries of English slang 109
-
Part II. Word history and cultural history
- Old English etymologies in Christfrid Ganander’s Nytt Finskt Lexicon (1787) 131
- The origin of the word yeoman 153
- Early East India Company merchants and a rare word for sex 169
- From denominal to deverbal 193
- A gente Anglorum appellatur 219
- William Lambarde and Thomas Milles in search of the golden past 233
- Contempt 249
- A lexical skirmish 269
- Index of subjects 287
- Index of personal names 291
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Tabula gratulatoria vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction xiii
-
Part I. History of dictionaries
- The Flores of Ouide (1513) 3
- “Halles Lanfranke” and its most excellent and learned expositive table 17
- John Lane’s Verball 41
- The linking of lemma to gloss in Elyot’s Dictionary (1538) 55
- Music amidst the tumult 79
- Chaos and old night 91
- Online dictionaries of English slang 109
-
Part II. Word history and cultural history
- Old English etymologies in Christfrid Ganander’s Nytt Finskt Lexicon (1787) 131
- The origin of the word yeoman 153
- Early East India Company merchants and a rare word for sex 169
- From denominal to deverbal 193
- A gente Anglorum appellatur 219
- William Lambarde and Thomas Milles in search of the golden past 233
- Contempt 249
- A lexical skirmish 269
- Index of subjects 287
- Index of personal names 291
