| 释义 |
▪ I. -ly, suffix1
(Forms: 1 -líc, -lic, 2–5 -lich, 4–5 -liche, 3–5 north. -lik(e, (3 Orm. -lic, -liȝ, -like), 3–6 -li, 4– -ly),
appended to ns. and adjs. to form adjs., represents the OE. -lī̆c, corresponding to OFris., OS. -lîk (Du. -lijk), OHG. -lîk (MHG. -lîch, mod.G. -lich), ON. -lig-r, -leg-r (Sw., Da. -lig), Goth. -leik-s:—OTeut. -lîko-. The phonology of the OE. form, as also of the mod.G. and the ON. forms, is somewhat abnormal, the frequency in use of the suffix having caused loss of the original secondary stress, with consequent shortening of the vowel, and in ON. also voicing of the guttural. A further irregularity appears in the phonetic development in ME. The normal representation of OE. -lic was -lik in northern dialects and -lich in southern dialects. These forms are found as late as the 15th century; but the form -li, -ly, which (though parallel with the reduction of OE. ic to I, and of ME. everich to every) seems to be chiefly due to the influence of the Scandinavian -lig-, occurs in northern and midland dialects as early as the 13th c., and before the end of the 15th c. had become universal. In the Ormulum (c 1200) -lic (rarely -like) is used before a vowel and at the end of a line, and -liȝ before a cons.; the inflected form -like (disyllabic) seems often to be used, for metrical reasons, where grammar would require the uninflected form. In the comparative and superlative (OE. -licra, -e, -licost) the ME. form had regularly -k according to phonetic law in all dialects (in the south the usual 13–14th c. form was -lukere, -lokere); but where the positive had the form -li new comparatives and superlatives in -lier, liest were regularly formed from it.
The original Teut. adjs. in -lîko- were compounds of the n. *lîkom appearance, form, body (see lich). Thus *mannlîko- (‘manly’) means etymologically ‘having the appearance or form of a man’; gôðolîko- (‘goodly’) ‘having a good appearance or form’, or ‘having the appearance or form of what is good’. The primitive force of the suffix may therefore be rendered by ‘having the appearance or form indicated by the first element of the word’; but while in the historical Teut. langs. it has remained capable of expressing this meaning, it has in all of them acquired a much wider application.
When appended to ns., the most general senses of the suffix in all Teut. langs. are ‘having the qualities appropriate to’, ‘characteristic of’, ‘befitting’. In English of all periods it has been a prolific formative; the adjs. formed with it are most frequently eulogistic, as in kingly, knightly, masterly, princely, queenly, scholarly, soldierly (cf. manly, womanly with mannish, womanish); among the examples with dyslogistic sense are beastly, beggarly, cowardly, dastardly, rascally, ruffianly, scoundrelly. In OE., as in other Teut. langs., the suffix had often the sense ‘of or pertaining to’; but the adjs. have, so far as this meaning is concerned, been to a great extent superseded by synonyms of Latin or Romanic etymology. Thus manly formerly admitted of the senses now expressed by human and masculine; for one of the older senses of timely we must now say temporal. Another use of the suffix, common to English with other Teut. langs., is to form adjs. denoting periodic recurrence, as daily, hourly, monthly, nightly, weekly, yearly.
When -ly is appended to an adj., the resulting derivative adj. often connotes a quality related to or resembling that expressed by its primary; cf., e.g., OE. léof ‘dear’ with léoflic ‘lovely’ (or, as it might be rendered, ‘such as becomes dear’). The diminutive sense found in mod.G. gelblich yellowish, süsslich sweetish, though a very easy development from the original sense of the suffix, does not seem ever to have existed in English. Even in OE. -lic had app. ceased to be used in new formations from adjs.; the new adjs. f. adj. + -ly that have arisen in ME. or in mod.E. seem to be from the advs.
▪ II. -ly, suffix2
(Forms: 1–2 -líce, 2–5 -liche, 4–5 -lich, 3–5 north. -like, (3 Orm. -like, -liȝ), 3–6 -li, 4– -ly), forming adverbs, represents OE. -líce, corresponding (functionally if not morphologically) to OFris. -lîke, OS. -lîko (M.Du. -lîke, Du. -lijk, MLG. -lîke, mod.LG. -lik), OHG. -lîchô (MHG. -liche, mod.G. -lich), ON. -liga, -lega (MSw. -lika, -leka, in mod.Sw. superseded by -ligt, -ligen; Da. -lig), Goth. -leikô, derived from -lîko- (see -ly1) with an adverb-forming suffix, OTeut. -ô, according to some repr. the ending of the abl. fem. (pre-Teut. -ād) or neut. (pre-Teut. -ōd); according to others that of the instrumental neut. (pre-Teut. -ōm).
The form-history of the suffix in Eng. is similar to that of -ly1: in ME. the OE. -líce was normally represented by -līche (southern), -līke (northern), the compar. being -lī̆ker, -luker, -loker (superl. -est).
The form -li, -ly, which was current in East Midland English in the 14th c., and became general in the 15th c., is probably due to the influence of the ON. -liga. In the strongly Scandinavianized dialect of the Ormulum (c 1200) -liᵹ and -like are used indifferently, according to the requirements of the metre. Where the positive ended in -li, -ly, the comparative and superlative ended in -lier, -liest. In the 15–17th c. forms like falslyer, traitorouslyer (Malory), softlier, justlier, widelier (Long Barclay's Argenis 1625), easilier, -est (R. Baxter Saving Faith 1658) were common, but in later use the advs. in -ly are compared with more, most, the inflexional forms being only employed in poetry or for rhetorical effect.
In OTeut. an adv. with this suffix must have implied the existence of an adj. with the suffix corresponding to -ly1. In OE., however, there are several instances (e.g. bealdlíce boldly, swétlíce sweetly) in which an adv. in -líce has been formed directly from a simple adj. without the intervention of an adj. in -lic. In ME. the number of these direct formations was greatly increased, and when the final -e, which was the original OE. adverb-making suffix, ceased to be pronounced, it became usual to append -ly to an adj. as the regular mode of forming an adv. of manner. It was, down to the 17th c., somewhat frequently attached, with this function, even to adjs. in -ly, as earlily, godlily, kindlily, livelily, lovelily, statelily; but these formations are now generally avoided as awkward, while on the other hand it is felt to be ungraceful to use words like godly, goodly, lovely, mannerly, timely, as advs.; the difficulty is usually evaded by recourse to some periphrastic form of expression. In examples belonging to the 16th and 17th c. it is sometimes difficult to determine whether a writer intended the adv. goodly to mean ‘in a good manner’ or ‘in a goodly manner’, and there are other instances of similar ambiguity. In the words denoting periodical recurrence, as daily, hourly, the adj. and the adv. are now identical in form. A solitary example of an adv. f. n. + -ly2 with no related adj. is partly. From the early part of the 16th c. the suffix has been added to ordinal numerals to form advs. denoting serial position, as firstly, secondly, thirdly, etc. (cf. F. premièrement, etc.).
When -ly is attached to a disyllabic or polysyllabic adj. in -le, the word is contracted, as in ably, doubly, singly, simply; contractions of this kind occur already in the 14th c., but examples of the uncontracted forms (e.g. doublely) are found as late as the 17th c. Whole + -ly becomes wholly, but in all other similar instances the written e is retained before the suffix, e.g. in palely, vilely, puerilely. Adjs. ending graphically with ll lose one l before -ly, as in fully (in southern Eng. commonly pronounced with a single l, but in Scotland often with double or long l), dully |ˈdʌllɪ|, coolly |ˈkuːllɪ|. Adjs. of more than one syll. ending in y change y to i before -ly, as in merrily; in formations from monosyllabic adjs. the usage varies, e.g. dryly, drily; gayly, gaily (cf. daily, which is the only current form); slyly, slily (but always shyly); greyly, grayly has always y. Another orthographical point is the dropping of the e in the two words duly, truly. It is unusual to append -ly to an adj. in -ic; the ending of the adv. is nearly always -ically, even when the only current form of the adj. ends in -ic. |