Structured Word Inquiry of 'Domestic' and 'Amnestic'

What is the morphology of the word domestic? Before doing any research, I immediately think of the potential relative domicile. Both words have meanings related to the household in Modern English. I also see a potential -ic suffix on domestic.

To begin my study, I look up domestic in Etymonline and Wiktionary. Both sources tell me that the word came from Old French domestique from Latin domesticus from domus. The Latin domus means “house, home, household, dwelling place” and could give English the base <Dome>. The -ique on the Old French word and the -icus on the Latin is also confirmation of the -ic suffix in the English domestic.

The question at this point is the path from Latin domus to domesticus. I hypothesize a potential -est suffix or an -estic suffix from the Latin -esticus.

However, I am first reminded of the words amnesty and amnestic. I have been stuck on the morphology of these words for a while. I initially identified both as free bases. However, looking at both words during my study of domestic, I realize that amnesty has the -y suffix because the English words ultimately comes from Ancient Greek amnēstía, which comes from ámnēsto + -íā. That Ancient Greek -íā is one source of the Modern English nominal -y suffix. (I am kicking myself for not seeing that morpheme before.) I thus have an <Amnest>, which may or may not be further analyzable, to which the -y suffix in amnesty and the -ic suffix in amnestic affixes.

Looking at the entry for the word on Etymonline, I also see that the initial <a> is the negating a- suffix from the Ancient Greek a- meaning “not, without.”

I am now left with the <mnest> to analyze. The Wiktionary entry on the Ancient Greek is lacking, so I look at amnesty on Merriam-Webster in the hopes of finding more information. The word history information in this source confirms the a- prefix and -y suffix. Merriam Webster also tells me that Ancient Greek amnēstía comes from amnēstós, which is a- + mnēstós + -íā. More importantly, I see that the mnēstós is a verbal adjective of mnáomai, mnâsthai (“to be mindful of”) and mimnḗskomai, mimnḗskesthai (“to call to mind, remember”).

I remember (no pun intended) seeing a –tos and variant –stos previously while studying other Ancient Greek bases, so I look up the suffix on Wiktionary. The Ancient Greek –tós and variant –stós do indeed form verbal adjectives. Looking then again at amnesty and amnestic, if the Ancient Greek -stós developed into an English morpheme, then the morpheme would be the <st>, leaving an <Mne> base>.

So far the word sums work and follow the rules of English spelling. However, I need to confirm the <Mne> base and the -st suffix.

I had previously identified an <Mn> base that formed words such as amnesia, hypermnesia, mnesic, and promnesia. All these words come from Ancient Greek sources such as mnáomai, mnâsthai, and mnēmē that related to remembering.

However, I was left with the word mnemonic. Adding the replaceable <e> to create the <Mne> base denoting “remember, be mindful” solved the problem with mnemonic and included amnesty and amnestic in the word family. The etymology confirms the base as <Mne> because Ancient Greek mnē– is the root of mnáomai, mnâsthai, and mnēmē.

However, I am still not sure about that -st suffix. Another possible analysis is that Ancient Greek -stía developed into an –sty suffix in English and that the suffixal construction -stic developed from -sty + -ic.

I did find the word telestic (“mystical, of or pertaining to religious mysteries”), which Merriam Webster identifies as developing from Ancient Greek telestikós, from telestós, which is verbal adjective from telein, which comes from télos. I also found the word asbestic (“related to or consisting of asbestos”), which comes from a- + sbestós + -ic. The sbestós is a verbal adjective of sbénnumi, sbennynai. Both telestós and sbestós have the –stós suffix.

I have also identified a word that retains the full -stos suffix from the Ancient Greek –stós: asbestos.

The -stos suffix is clearly identifiable, both in form and etymology. However, because in amnesty, amnestic, and telestic the Ancient Greek –stós + -íā and –stós + -ikós form words that end in -stía and -stikós, I am amending my analysis to -sty and -stic suffixes.

Again, however, with asbestos comes a host of additional relatives including, but not limited to, asbestify, asbestize, asbestoid, asbestous, and asbestosis. All these words provide additional evidence for an -st suffix rather than endless suffixal constructions.

Additionally, a number of English suffixes developed as shortened forms of classical suffixes and simultaneously exist alongside those classical suffixes. Take –ine as an examples. The English -ine can come from Latin -īnus as in dominate and equine.

Both words have the -ine suffix. However, the words dominus and equinus also occur in English, although rarer. Both words retain the full -inus suffix from the Latin -īnus.

Then again, to throw another wrench into the argument, all the words related to asbestos are newer formations, all first attested after the widespread industrial use of asbestos. While etymological evidence for -sty and -stic exists for amnesty and telestic from Ancient Greek amnēstía and telestikós, I am left with the etymologically unsupported amnestic and relatives of asbestos, all of which are modern formations. For amnestic, I must conclude that the base is <Amnest> from amnesty and that the -ic suffix affixes to this base.

Likewise, the base of many of the words derived from asbestos is <Asbest>.

Once I had analyzed the words amnesty and amnestic, I returned to my study of domestic. The word comes from Latin domesticus, which comes from domest– +‎ –icus, from domus. The domest- is the root of adjectives and nouns from the Latin domus. Thus, unlike in amnesty and amnestic, the <st> in domestic is part of the base, not a suffix. The base is <Domest> denoting “household, of the house.”

I then look for morphological relatives and find domestics, domestique (doublet of domestic), domestically, domesticize, domesticate, domestication, and domesticity, among others.

Next I look for additional relatives not built from the <Domest> base. The word domicile is indeed an etymological relative as I originally hypothesized. Domicile comes from Latin domicilium, which also comes from Latin domus. The path from domus to domicilium is uncertain, perhaps coming from domus + colere (“inhabit, dwell”). However, because the <icil> is not a clear morpheme from any clear etymological source, I must analyze the base of domicile as the free base <Domicile>. Some other morphological relatives include dedomicile, domicilable, domiciles, domiciliary, nondomicile, and redomicile.

I finally look up the Latin domus to find any further etymological relatives and discover that the free base <Dome> denoting “house, home, dwelling place, inhabitation” indeed comes from Latin domus. The <Dome> base gives English words such as dome, domes, domed, domal, domic, domus, biodome, endome, dominus, dominate, domineer, dominical, and predominate, among others. The words dome and domus are doublets.

<Dome → dome>
<Dome + s → domes>
<Dome + ed → domed>
<Dome + al → domal>
<Dome + ic → domic>
<Dome + us → domus>
<Bi + o + Dome → biodome>
<en + Dome → endome>
<Dome + inus → dominus>
<Dome + ine + ate → dominate>
<Dome + ine + eer -> domineer>
<Dome + ine + ic + al → dominical>
<pre + Dome + ine + ate → predominate>

Sometimes word studies take you down a long and winding road, but you always end up back home.