What is the morphology of the word opportunity? At first glance, I can see the connecting vowel -i- and the –ty suffix, which forms an abstract noun suffix denoting a quality or condition, on the end of the word. I also see a possible op- prefix, which I know is an assimilated form of the Latin ob- prefix. If my initial hypotheses are correct, then I must still determine a base and any other potential morphemes from the remaining <portun>.
<op + Portun + i + ty → opportunity>
To determine the morphological structure of the word, I look up opportunity in Wiktionary and Etymonline. Both sources agree that the word comes from Middle French opportunité, which comes from Latin opportūnitās, which comes from opportūnus + –tās, which comes from ob + portus + –nus. By surface analysis, the word is opportune + –ity. However, we know that -ity is actually <i + ty>, with the English -ty developing from the Latin –tās.
Delving further into the surface analysis, I look up the word opportune to confirm that the affixation of -i- + -ty produces opportunity. Similar to opportunity, opportune comes from Old French opportune, which comes from Latin opportūnus (“suitable, favourable, advantageous” or “favorable for reaching a harbor”) from the phrase ob portum veniens (“coming toward a port”). Because opportūnitās comes from opportūnus + –tās, the surface analysis of opportune + –ity is correcty and confirms my hypothesis of opportunity ending in -i- and -ty.
Looking more at opportūnus, we see that the word comes from ob + portus + –nus. As I predicted, the <op> at the beginning of the word is indeed the op- prefix, the assimilated form of the op- prefix before <p>. The remaining <portūnus> comes from portus + –nus. Thus, the base of the word is <Port> from Latin portus meaning “harbor, warehouse.”
What remains in the Latin is -ūnus, which developed into the -une suffix in English as in tribune from tribūnus. (English -une also developed from Latin -ūna in an example of a single morpheme developing from two distinct forms.)
<op + Port + une → opportune>
<Tribe + une → tribune>
<Fort + une → fortune>
Adding the -i- + -ty to opportune thus yields the following word sum for opportunity:
<op + Port + une + i + ty → opportunity>
To finish my word study, I finally look for other morphological relatives of opportunity. By looking at the entry on Wiktionary and entries linking to the word on Etymonline, I found a number of words including port, importune, Portland, inopportune, and opportunistic, among others.
<Port → port>
<im + Port + une → importune>
<Port + Land → Portland>
<in + op + Port + une → inopportune>
<op + Port + une + ist + ic → opportunistic>
Finally, I must note that English has two other <Port> bases semantically related to the <Port> denoting “harbor, warehouse” but from different Latin sources. The <Port> denoting “entrance, passage, door, gate” comes from Latin porta and gives English words such as airport, passport, portal, and porthole. The <Port> denoting “carry” comes from Latin portāre and gives English words such as portable, deport, import, and export. The three <Port> bases overlap semantically, so determining the base of a specific word requires looking into the etymology.
