Using Structured Word Inquiry to Discover the and Bases and the -et(e) Suffix

Sometimes I am studying a base from Old English and think to myself, “This base is kind of boring.” For example, I just studied the free base <Stern>, which comes from Middle English stern, sterne, sturne and previously Old English stirne, styrne. The word family is quite small: stern, sterner, sternest, sternly, sternly. But then I find myself falling down a Latin word study rabbit hole and find myself wishing for the simplicity of a base with Old English roots.

Today I decided to study the word adolescence. Wading back through the Middle English and Old French, I found the source in the Latin adolēscēns. The adolēscēns is a present participle of adolēscere, which consists of the prefix ad- and the verb olēscere. The olēscere is related to alēscere. The alēscere comes from alere + -scō. The Latin -scō is an inceptive suffix, or a suffix that denotes entering into a state. The Latin -scō developed into the English -esce. Thus, olēscere likely comes from *olēre + -scō, although the *olēre is unattested. However, because the -scō is attested, the English base of adolescence is <Ole> denoting “grow.” The final <ence> is the -ence suffix.

As a side note, the Latin alere mentioned about gives English the bound base <Ale> denoting “nourish, rear, grow, support, maintain.” The <Ale> is the base of words such as alimentary, alimony, and coalesce.

So far I am feeling good and not like I fell down any word study holes. But then I start looking for relatives. The other words prefixed with ad- are easy.

Then I find that obsolescence is another relative via the <Ole> base along with obsolescent.

But then I find obsolete and plummet down. The words obsolete and obsolescence are clearly related in meaning. Both are likewise related etymologically. The word obsolescence comes from Latin obsolēscēns, which is the past participle of obsolēscere, which comes from obs- + olēscere, which I discussed above. The obs- is a form of the ob- prefix denoting ” toward, to, against, before, near, across, down, in the direction of, in front of, before, at, upon, about in the way of with regard to, because of.” The word obsolete comes from Latin obsolētus, which is a past participle of obsolēscere. The -ētus is a past participle ending akin to the Latin -ātus, a source of the English -ate.

Therefore, just as the English -it(e) comes from the Latin -itus, another past participle ending, so to can -et(e) come from Latin -ētus.

To confirm that -et(e) is indeed a suffix (and one that needs the parenthetical <e>), I looked for additional words with this hypothesized suffix from Latin –ētus. I first found words that end in <plete> as in complete, deplete, replete, and supplete. Initially I had identified a <Plete> base, but, looking at the origin, I found that <plete> is analyzable as <Ple + et(e)>. How do I know? The word complete comes from Latin complētus, which is the past participle of complēre. The complēre consists of con- + plēre. The past participle of plēre is plētus, with the -ētus ending. I decided on the bound <Ple> as the base with the replaceable <e> because of the relative complement.

I now had two bases that took the -et(e) suffix from Latin -ētus, but I wondered about any others. Searching a word finder for more words that end with -ete, I found the word concrete. Looking back at my previous work, I had identified (or rather misidentified) a <Crete> base that formed the foundation of concrete. Studying the etymology, however, I discovered that concrete comes from Latin concrētus, which is a past participle of concrēscere. The concrētus has the -ētus ending that results in the English -ete suffix. The concrēscere has the -ēscere, which is the same as in olēscere and alēscere. I thus knew that I had a <Cr(e)> base and the possible relatives concrescent and concrescence.

Looking up both words in the dictionary, I confirmed that both my hypothesized concrescent and concrescence exist.

Looking for additional relatives I found accretion, crescent, and excrescence, among others.

Because I could not find any words in which another base or a consonant-initial suffix followed the base, I decided on <Cr> as the bound base. A replaceable <e> is not necessary because the first vowel in the vowel-initial suffix that always follows the <Cr> base is the vowel that surfaces in the spelling.

Two other bases that are related to the <Cr> base denoting “come forth, spring up, grow, thrive, swell” are <Crease> and <Crue>. The <Crease> that forms the base of the words increase and decrease comes to Modern English from Middle English -cresen from Anglo-Norman -creistre from Latin crēscere. Like most words that past through some time period of French, the form changed and resulted in the etymologically and semantically similar but orthographically different <Crease>. The story is the same for the <Crue> base that forms the base of the words accrue and recruit. <Crue> comes from Middle English –crewn from Anglo-Norman –creistre from Latin crēscere.

I now had three bases that took the -et(e) suffix. But why do I include the parenthetical <e> rather than a replaceable <e>? The answer is secret. Not that the answer is a secret, but rather that the answer is the word secret.

The word secret ultimately comes from Latin secretum, which is an inflected form of sēcrētus, which provides us with the etymological evidence for -et(e) with the parenthetical <e>. The -ētus on sēcrētus almost always results in -ete in English, but secret does not have the final <e>. Instead, English has both secretum and secret.

As for the <Cre> base, the crētus in sēcrētus is the past participle of cernere meaning “distinguish, divide, separate, sift, perceive, see, discern, behold, comprehend, regard.” But why do I include the replaceable <e> on this bound <Cre> base? Because this <Cre> is also the base of the words excrement and recrement. The consonant-initial -ment suffix does not replace the replaceable <e>.

Two bases related to <Cre> but that passed through French are <Cree> and <Creet>. The bound base <Cree> comes from Old French –cré from Latin crētum from cernere and forms the base of the word decree and its derivatives. The bound base <Creet> comes from Old French -cret from Latin crētus from cernere and forms the base of the word discreet and its derivatives.

As a final note, English has a second <Cre> bound base that forms words such as create and creole. The word create comes from Latin creātus (with that –ātus ending that gives English the -ate suffix) from creāre meaning “make, cause, bring forth, produce, beget.” The word creole ultimately comes from creāre with the -ole diminutive suffix.

Like I said, sometimes I long for the simplicity of a base with an Old English origin. Then again, falling into the Latin rabbit hole produces many bases and suffixes and links together words that I otherwise not have considered related.