1. Instituto de Estudios Superiores Belén
PROFESORADO EN INGLÉS
Historia de la Lengua Inglesa
1
WORD-FORMATIONIN THE EARLY
MODERN PERIOD
While large numbers of loan-words entered the language in the Early Modern period,
especially from Latin, words nevertheless continued to be coined from existing English
language-material by traditional methods of word-formation, especially affixation,
compounding, and conversion. Indeed, it is probable that more words were produced in this
way than were borrowed from foreign languages, though this fact was not noticed by
contemporaries, who were obsessed with inkhorn terms. In fact any loan-word entering the
language is soon likely to have other words derived from it by the normal native processes
of word-formation. For example, in the fourteenth century the adjective comfortable was
borrowed from French: by the end of the century the adverb comfortably had been derived
from it, followed by the adjective uncomfortable (1592).
By far the commonest method of word-formation in the Early Modem period was
affixation, that is, the coining of new words by the use of prefixes and suffixes. Most of the
words thus formed were nouns or adjectives, though there were also some adverbs and a
few verbs. The two suffixes most frequently used for forming nouns were -ness and –e, the
former being added to adjectives (bawdiness. briskness) and the latter to verbs (feeler,
murmurer). Adjectives were often formed by the use of -ed (latticed) or of -y (batty).
Adverbs were normally formed from adjectives with the suffix –ly (bawdily), but occasionally
the ending -wise is found (sporting-wise). The usual suffix for forming verbs was -ize
(anathemize). There were also many prefixes, of which by far the commonest was -un,
which was used freely with nouns, adjectives, participles, verbs, and adverbs (uncivility.
unclimbable, unavailing, unclasp, uncircumspectly).
A considerable number or words were formed by compounding, that is, the
combination of two or more free morphemes. They are nearly all nouns, and the
commonest type is Noun + Noun (sheep-brand, waterdock). There are also a fair number of
the type Adjective + Noun (Frenchwoman, freshman), and of the type Verb + Object
(scrape-penny “miser”).
The third reasonably common type of word-formation was conversion, the process
by which one word is derived from another with no change of form. Three types were

2. Instituto de Estudios Superiores Belén
PROFESORADO EN INGLÉS
Historia de la Lengua Inglesa
2
especially common: the formation of verbs front nouns (to bayonet, to gossip, to invoice)
the formation of nouns from adjectives (an ancient 'an old man', a brisk 'a fop'), and the
formation of nouns from verbs (an invite, a laugh).
The words formed by affixation, compounding, and conversion are often ordinary
everyday words, or words to do with practical affairs like farming, fishing, and handicrafts.
By contrast, as we have seen, Latin loan-words tend to be more formal and literary, and
often concern specialized fields of discourse like science, medicine, religion, classical
culture, and the liberal arts.