What is the morphology of the word reconciliation? Without looking up any information about the word, I see potential re-, con-, -ate, and -ion affixes, which would leave <Cili> as a base or a base and the connecting vowel -i-. However, to accurately determine the morphemes, I must first investigate the etymology of the word.
?<re + con + Cili + ate + ion → reconciliation>
Searching in both Etymonline and Wiktionary, I see that reconciliation (“act of coming together again”) comes from Old French reconciliacion from Latin reconciliātiōnem from reconciliātiō from reconciliāre (“bring together again”) + –tiō from re– + conciliāre (“unite, bring together”) from concilium (“council, meeting”) + -āre from com + calāre (“call, announce”) + –ium. Etymonline tells me to look at the entry for reconcile, which then leads me to the entry for conciliate. I am already beginning to see some morphological relatives.
Starting with the Old French reconciliacion, I know that the English –ion suffix can come from a rebracketing of the Old French -cion from Latin -tiōnem from -tiō. The Old French reconciliacion ends in -cion and came from Latin reconciliātiōnem, which ends in –tiōnem and which came from reconciliātiō, which ends in -tiō. I have evidence to support the -ion suffix forming a noun denoting a state, condition, or action on the end of reconciliation.
<Reconcilate + ion → reconciliation>
I also have evidence for the -ate suffix, which comes from Latin –ātus, –ātum, –āta, which are past participle endings. The past participle of reconciliāre is reconciliātus, which ends in the -ātus. The -ate suffix can also come from Latin –atiōnem when followed by the –ion suffix, which reconciliation does.
<Reconcili + ate + ion → reconciliation>
Moving to the beginning of the word, the etymology provides me the evidence for both the re- and con- suffixes. The Latin reconciliāre comes from re– + conciliāre. The Latin re- developed into the English re- prefix denoting “back, back from, back to the original place, again, anew, once more.” The Latin conciliāre ultimately comes from com + calāre. The English con- prefix denoting “together, with” is an assimilated form of the Latin com.
<re + con + Cili + ate + ion → reconciliation>
Having confirmed my initially-hypothesized affixes, I then continue analyzing the remaining <cili> for a base and any additional affixes. The <cili> comes from Latin –ciliāre. However, before entering English, the Latin reconciliāre came through Old French reconcilier. The Old French -ier infinitive ending developed from the Latin –āre. The Old French reconcilier developed into reconcilen in Middle English and then into reconcile in Modern English. The base of reconcile is thus the <Cile> bound base denoting “council, meeting, coming together, calling.”
<re + con + Cile → reconcile>
The only morpheme left in reconciliation is the second <i>. In the Latin reconciliāre, the second <i> comes from the -ium in concilium after the addition of the -āre infinitive ending. Through the intermediary Old French reconcilier, English loses the <i> in reconcile. However, in reconciliation, the second <i> is a connecting vowel, linking the base with the -ate suffix.
<re + con + Cile + i + ate + ion → reconciliation>
I finally look for additional morphological relatives beyond reconcile and find conciliate, irreconcilable, reconcilable, unconciliated, and unreconciled, among others.
<con + Cile + i + ate → conciliate>
<ir + re + con + Cile + able → irreconcilable>
<re + con + Cile + ability → reconcilability>
<un + con + Cile + i + ate + ed → unconciliated>
<un + re + con + Cile + ed → unreconciled>
I have now gone full circle on my morphological analysis of the word reconciliation. In a rather fitting conclusion, the morphology of reconciliation is itself a reconciliation.
