{"id":733,"date":"2016-07-29T21:06:20","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T01:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/?post_type=chapter&p=733"},"modified":"2016-11-30T13:50:52","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T18:50:52","slug":"%c2%a771-the-perfect-participle-base-suffix-io-as-abstract-noun","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/chapter\/%c2%a771-the-perfect-participle-base-suffix-io-as-abstract-noun\/","title":{"raw":"\u00a771. The Perfect Participle Base + suffix -IO as Abstract Noun","rendered":"\u00a771. The Perfect Participle Base + suffix -IO as Abstract Noun"},"content":{"raw":"

Of all ways to create abstract nouns from Latin verbs, the overwhelming favourite was the addition of the suffix -io<\/b> to the perfect participle base (or less commonly to the present infinitive base). For example, from dicere<\/b>, dictus<\/b> (\u201cspeak\u201d), Latin could create an abstract noun dict-io<\/b>, dict-ionis<\/b>, which meant \u201cspeech\u201d (or \u201cthe act of speech,\u201d \u201cthe process of speaking,\u201d etc.). Notice that this is a perfectly regular 3rd declension noun, whose base is diction-<\/b>. <\/b>Here, then, is the explanation for all those -ion<\/i> derivatives that we noticed in the last chapter. Historically, English forms in -ion<\/i> can be traced back through Old French to medieval accusative forms like dictionem<\/b>, which were prevalent in vulgar Latin at a time when the nominative forms had all but disappeared. For practical purposes, however, we can equate the English -ion<\/i> spelling with the BASE form of Latin nouns in -io<\/b>, -ionis.<\/b>[footnote] This -ion<\/strong> noun base may be further extended in Latin forms like diction-arium<\/strong>, E dictionary<\/em>, \u201ca place for words.\u201d (There was also a medieval Latin expression, liber dictionarius<\/strong>, \u201cword-book.\u201d)[\/footnote] This is a valid historical approach, because the majority of the -ion<\/i> forms came into Modern English after the Renaissance, drawn directly from Latin nouns on the analogy of the older -ion <\/i>derivatives. New examples are still being coined today.<\/p>\r\n

To the student of English vocabulary, this circumstance is nothing less than a godsend. Although you may never have stopped to think how many -ion<\/i> nouns there are in our language, you can be sure that there are enough to keep you counting for hours on end. Almost without exception (ex-cept-io<\/b>), they will have a Latin derivation (de-rivat-io<\/b>), and that knowledge should be reason[footnote] Reason<\/em> is a word which has lost its -ion<\/em> in the French transmission<\/em> (< trans-missio<\/strong>, \u201ca sending across\u201d). The doublets reason<\/em> and ration<\/em> are both derived from ratio<\/strong>, a noun formed from the past participle of reri<\/strong>, ratus<\/strong> (\u201cthink\u201d). Similar doublets are fashion<\/em> (Fr. fa\u00e7on<\/em>) and faction<\/em>, both from factio<\/strong>.[\/footnote]<\/a> for great satisfaction (satis-fact-io<\/b>)\u2014perhaps even be an occasion (oc-cas-io<\/b>) for exultation (ex-sultat-io<\/b>). There can be few aspects of English etymology that are more dependable: virtually every -ion <\/i>noun that you meet can now send you scurrying in search of a Latin perfect participle, whose meaning is almost guaranteed to unlock the semantic secrets of that English noun.<\/p>\r\n

If you want to test that assertion (ad-sert-io<\/b>), you can take another quick tour of the Latin verbs on Tables 9.1<\/a>, 9.2<\/a>, 9.3<\/a>, and 9.4<\/a>, applying the -ion <\/i>test to the perfect participles. What you will now be uncovering is a series of Latin 3rd declension abstract nouns in -io<\/b>, -ionis<\/b>, probably the largest single category of Latin derivatives in English.<\/p>","rendered":"

Of all ways to create abstract nouns from Latin verbs, the overwhelming favourite was the addition of the suffix -io<\/b> to the perfect participle base (or less commonly to the present infinitive base). For example, from dicere<\/b>, dictus<\/b> (\u201cspeak\u201d), Latin could create an abstract noun dict-io<\/b>, dict-ionis<\/b>, which meant \u201cspeech\u201d (or \u201cthe act of speech,\u201d \u201cthe process of speaking,\u201d etc.). Notice that this is a perfectly regular 3rd declension noun, whose base is diction-<\/b>. <\/b>Here, then, is the explanation for all those -ion<\/i> derivatives that we noticed in the last chapter. Historically, English forms in -ion<\/i> can be traced back through Old French to medieval accusative forms like dictionem<\/b>, which were prevalent in vulgar Latin at a time when the nominative forms had all but disappeared. For practical purposes, however, we can equate the English -ion<\/i> spelling with the BASE form of Latin nouns in -io<\/b>, -ionis.<\/b>[1]<\/sup><\/a> This is a valid historical approach, because the majority of the -ion<\/i> forms came into Modern English after the Renaissance, drawn directly from Latin nouns on the analogy of the older -ion <\/i>derivatives. New examples are still being coined today.<\/p>\n

To the student of English vocabulary, this circumstance is nothing less than a godsend. Although you may never have stopped to think how many -ion<\/i> nouns there are in our language, you can be sure that there are enough to keep you counting for hours on end. Almost without exception (ex-cept-io<\/b>), they will have a Latin derivation (de-rivat-io<\/b>), and that knowledge should be reason[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/a> for great satisfaction (satis-fact-io<\/b>)\u2014perhaps even be an occasion (oc-cas-io<\/b>) for exultation (ex-sultat-io<\/b>). There can be few aspects of English etymology that are more dependable: virtually every -ion <\/i>noun that you meet can now send you scurrying in search of a Latin perfect participle, whose meaning is almost guaranteed to unlock the semantic secrets of that English noun.<\/p>\n

If you want to test that assertion (ad-sert-io<\/b>), you can take another quick tour of the Latin verbs on Tables 9.1<\/a>, 9.2<\/a>, 9.3<\/a>, and 9.4<\/a>, applying the -ion <\/i>test to the perfect participles. What you will now be uncovering is a series of Latin 3rd declension abstract nouns in -io<\/b>, -ionis<\/b>, probably the largest single category of Latin derivatives in English.<\/p>\n

  1. This -ion<\/strong> noun base may be further extended in Latin forms like diction-arium<\/strong>, E dictionary<\/em>, \u201ca place for words.\u201d (There was also a medieval Latin expression, liber dictionarius<\/strong>, \u201cword-book.\u201d) ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. Reason<\/em> is a word which has lost its -ion<\/em> in the French transmission<\/em> (< trans-missio<\/strong>, \u201ca sending across\u201d). The doublets reason<\/em> and ration<\/em> are both derived from ratio<\/strong>, a noun formed from the past participle of reri<\/strong>, ratus<\/strong> (\u201cthink\u201d). Similar doublets are fashion<\/em> (Fr. fa\u00e7on<\/em>) and faction<\/em>, both from factio<\/strong>. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":20,"menu_order":4,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"Chapter 10: Turning Latin Verbs Into Latin Nouns","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[52],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-733","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":586,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1899,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/733\/revisions\/1899"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/586"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/733\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=733"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=733"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}