istry

[Dieter Britz]

The ending of words like chemistry, ministry, tapestry, artistry etc -
what is the origin of this? Is it from Latin or old English? There is
nothing like it in Danish or German.

--
Dieter Britz

[Tony Mountifield]

In article <mjf12i$u6j$2...@dont-email.me>,

According to my dictionary, -ry is a shorteened form of -ery, which in turn
is from French -erie, based on Latin -arius and -ator.

Cheers
Tony
--
Tony Mountifield
Work: to...@softins.co.uk - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: to...@mountifield.org - http://tony.mountifield.org

[Dieter Britz]

On Tue, 19 May 2015 13:15:23 +0000, Tony Mountifield wrote:

> In article <mjf12i$u6j$2...@dont-email.me>,
> Dieter Britz <dieterh...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> The ending of words like chemistry, ministry, tapestry, artistry etc -
>> what is the origin of this? Is it from Latin or old English? There is
>> nothing like it in Danish or German.
>
> According to my dictionary, -ry is a shorteened form of -ery, which in
> turn is from French -erie, based on Latin -arius and -ator.
>
> Cheers Tony

Ah, OK. Similar to the German ending -erei, and the Danish -eri.
Strange that these two languages, which have not been influenced
as much by French and latin, also have it.

--
Dieter Britz

[Peter Duncanson]

This is the entry from the OED:

-ry, suffix

Etymology: Partly < Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French -rie
(late 12th cent. or earlier), variant (with loss of unstressed
medial e ) of -erie -ery suffix, and partly a variant (showing the
same loss of unstressed medial e ) of -ery suffix. Compare
post-classical Latin -ria (12th cent. or earlier), variant of -eria
-ery suffix.

The suffix occurs chiefly after an unstressed syllable ending in
/d/, /t/, /l/, /n/, or /?/, often in trisyllabic words whose main
stress is on the first syllable; however, in a few cases, it also
occurs after stressed vowels or diphthongs. In some cases both -ery
and -ry continue in use in the modern spelling variants of a word,
e.g. in baptistery n., commandery n., jewellery n.

Apparently attested earliest in the early 13th cent. in the French
loan Jewry n. Other early instances of loans or adaptations from
French are e.g. avowry n., chivalry n., hazardry n., mammetry n.,
sophistry n. For early formations within English compare husbandry
n., harlotry n., nunry n. (compare nunnery n.), portmanry n., bawdry
n.1

Forming nouns with the senses: ‘the practices, products, or
characteristics of a kind of person’, as masonry, punditry, rivalry;
‘the use or characteristic behaviour of a kind of thing’, as
rocketry, musketry; ‘persons of a certain type collectively’, as
parsonry, peasantry; ‘things or activities of a certain type
collectively’, as balladry, pastry, revelry; ‘a place where a kind
of animal is found or a kind of plant or fruit grows’, as pelicanry,
melonry. Cf. -ery suffix.

And:

-ery, suffix

Middle English -erie, forming ns., first occurs in words adopted
from French, and after the analogy of these has been extensively
used as an English formative.

1. The French -erie is of two distinct origins:

a. Representing a common Romanic -a'ria (Provençal -aria, Italian
-eria, Spanish -ería), produced by the addition of the suffix -'ia
(French -ie, -y suffix3) to ns. or adjs. formed with the Latin
suffix -ario- (French -ier, -er). A large proportion of the French
ns. in -ier, -er (see -er suffix2) are designations of persons
according to occupation or office; their derivatives in -erie denote
sometimes the class of goods in which these persons deal, as
draperie drapery, < drapier draper; sometimes their employment or
art, as archerie archery, < archer archer; sometimes the place where
their occupation is carried on, as boulangerie bakery, < boulanger
baker. After the analogy of these, many French words were formed
with -erie from ns. and adjs. without the intervention of a
derivative in -ier. Examples of the varying force of the suffix are
soierie silk goods, < soie silk; niaiserie foolish conduct, < niais
foolish; juiverie Jewry, < juif Jew.


b. Resulting from the addition of the suffix -ie to agent-nouns in
Old French -ere, -eor (modern French -eur):—Latin -ator, -atorem.
After the analogy of words thus formed, the suffix -erie was used to
form derivatives immediately from verb-stems. Of the French ns. in
-erie derived from vbs. (either through an agent-noun or directly)
some denote a class of actions, as tromperie deceit, < tromper to
deceive; others an occupation, art, etc., as confiserie the business
of a confectioner, < confire to preserve fruits, etc.; others the
place where an occupation is carried on, as brasserie brewery,
< brasser to brew.

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in uk.culture.language.english)

[Ildhund]

Dieter Britz wrote ...

>There is nothing like it in Danish or German.

...for certain values of /like/. En. /Ministry/ = Da. and Ge. /Ministerium/, En. /Industry/ = Da. /Industri/ and Ge. /Industrie/, En. /Sophistry/ = Da. /Sofisteri/ and Ge. /Sophisterei/.




Apart from which, Danish pastry is known the world over ...

--

Noel