“General Rules for Suffixes”

Primary Suffixes

Roots

     A suffix may be added directly to a root, and then the appropriate phonetic change may take place.  Sometimes the connecting vowel i appears between the suffix and the root.

  • Root AG- (root of agere) + -men = agmen

  • Root GEN- (root of gīgnere) + -us = genus

Forms Conceived as Roots

     The present stem of a verb may be modified into a form that is conceived as a root when a suffix is added to it.  Other forms conceived roots are in fact imaginary roots.  A conceived root may be treated as a stem.

  • Conceived root am- (modification of amā-, stem amāre, treated as a root) + -or = amor

  • Conceived root mon- (modification of monē-, stem monēre, treated as a root) + -i- (connecting vowel) + -tor = monitor

  • Conceived root tend- (modification of tende-, stem of tendere, treated as a root; real root TEN-) + -tor = tensor (for tend-tor)

  • Conceived root facin- (imaginary root) + -us = facinus

Present Stems of Verbs (By Analogy of Roots)

     A suffix may be added to a present stem of a verb, and the suffix and the stem interact with each in the same way as a personal ending beginning with the same letter (with the usual phonetic change, if any, although long vowels usually stay long before consonants).

  • stem certā- (stem of certāre) + -men = certāmen (analogous to certāmus)

  • stem amā- (stem of amāre) + -tor = amātor (analogous to amāte)

  • stem rege- (stem of regere) + -men = regimen (analogous to regimus)

  • stem scī- (stem of scīre) + -us = scius (analogous to sciō)

     This mode of word formation seems sometimes to overlap with the mode of the formation of words from verb forms conceived as roots.  For example, praedō, is formed by adding the suffix -ō to the stem praedā- (praedārī), but it just as well could have been formed by adding -ō to praed-, a verb form conceived as a root.

Suffixes Associated with Each Other

     Various suffixes tend to be associated with a particular form of a root or verb stem. For instance, -tiō, -tus, -tor, -tūra are added to the same forms of roots or verb stems as the supine stem ending -t, with the same phonetic change.

Subsections

Primary and Secondary Suffixes

  1. Primary Suffixes
  2. Secondary Suffixes

Vowel Changes

  1. Contraction of Double-Vowel Combinations
  2. Monosyllabic Stems

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