2. In the 15th cent., if not earlier, certain monosyllabic adjectives were extended by means of this suffix, apparently with the design of giving them a more adjectival appearance, e.g. hugy < huge, leany < lean. The majority of such words arose in the 16th and 17th cent.; examples are: bleaky, chilly, cooly, dusky, fainty, haughty, hoary, lanky, plumpy, slighty, slippery, stouty, swarty, thicky, vasty. In this application the suffix has not infrequently come to express much the same notion as -ish; this is particularly so with colour-epithets, as blacky, yellowy, and esp. when these are used quasi-adverbially, as greeny-blue, bluey-green, reddy-brown.

3. As early as the 13th cent. this suffix began to be used with verb-stems to express the meaning ‘inclined or apt to’ do something, or ‘giving occasion to’ a certain action; in the Ancren Riwle alone we have slibbri, sliddri, sluggi, slummi. Chaucer has sleepy = soporific. In the 16th cent. arose choky, drowsy, slippy, sticky; later we find blowy, clingy, floaty, quavery, rollicky. The immediate etymon of such adjectives cannot always be ascertained.

4. From the early years of the 19th cent. the suffix has been used still more freely in nonce-words designed to connote such characteristics of a person or thing as call for condemnation, ridicule, or contempt; hence such adjectives as beery, catty, churchy, jumpy, newspapery, piggy, tinny.

Represents ultimately, through French -ie, Com. Romanic -ía = Latin -ῑa, which comprised under one graphic form the Greek suffixes -ία and -εια, as in Latin mania = Greek μανία, whence French manie, Middle English manie n. Latin sympathīa = Greek συμπάθεια, whence French sympathie, English sympathy n. Romanic -ía displaced Latin ´-ĭa and became a living formative for abstract nouns of quality or condition; e.g. in Old French from corteis (courteous adj.) was formed corteisie courtesy n., from fol (fool adj.), folie folly n.¹, from gelos (jealous adj.), gelosie jealousy n., and the like. When learned adoptions were made of Latin nouns in ´-ĭa, this suffix was also represented by -ie, and so assimilated to -ía; e.g. French furie fury n., < Latin furia (whence also organic Old French fuire). In Anglo-Norman preference was given to such forms as these over popular or semi-popular forms, e.g. Anglo-Norman accidie, glorie, estorie, victorie = central French accide, gloire, estoire, victoire, Latin or medieval Latin accīdia, glōria, historia (Greek ἱστορία), victōria; it is the Anglo-Norman forms of such words that were adopted into English (see accidie n., glory n., story n., victory n.). There were various new formations in late or medieval Latin, in Romanic, or in individual Romance languages; examples are Romanic *libraría library n.¹, *poesía (for poesis) poesy v., Old French navie navy n. and adj. This suffix has never been in English a prolific formative, but from time to time new coinages have been made, e.g. in the 14th cent. beggerie beggary n. and in the 16th coopery n. (= cooper's work or ware), < beggar and cooper, both doubtless furthered by the prevalence of the suffix -ery suffix. Nonce-words like orphany and tenanty are of doubtful status, but the correspondence of adjectives in -ic and -ous to nouns in -y has made possible in modern times the formation after Greek types of such words as brachycephaly, gymnospermy, synchrony, syntony from brachycephalic, gymnospermous, synchronous, syntonic. The domain of the suffix is much enlarged by its constituting the final element of many compound suffixes, which receive separate treatment in this Dictionary in their alphabetical places; e.g. -acy suffix, -cy suffix, -ery suffix, -graphy comb. form, -latry comb. form, -logy comb. form, -machy comb. form, -pathy comb. form, -phagy comb. form, -phily comb. form, -ry suffix, -tomy comb. form, -tony comb. form.Many important nouns having this suffix appear as English adoptions of French words in the 13th century, as barony, blasphemy, company, courtesy, felony, folly, jealousy, litany, story, villainy; others, such as comedy and tragedy, fury, glory, harmony, honesty, library, melancholy, memory, misery, navy, victory date from the 14th century; in the 15th and 16th centuries another series of borrowings from French or from Latin appears, such as family, industry, irony, liturgy, modesty.The majority denote a state, condition, or quality; others denote an activity or a result of it, as blasphemy, felony, fury, harmony, history, liturgy, memory, phantasy, poesy, victory. From either signification a definitely concrete meaning may be readily developed, which is found in barony (= baronial domain, body of barons), company, family, library, navy, sacristy, etc. The concrete application is abundantly illustrated also by names of countries, as †Armony (Armenia), Italy, †Syrie (Syria), Brittany; cf. -ia suffix¹.

Representing, first through Anglo-Norman forms in -ie, later by direct adaptation, Latin -ium, which was added to verbal roots (primarily i- and e- stems) to denote an act, as in beneficium well-doing, good action, < beneficĕre to do good, colloquium conference, conversation, < colloquī to speak with, gaudium joy, < gaudēre to rejoice, suspīrium sigh, < suspīrāre to sigh. The earliest derivatives of this formation that were introduced into English are remedy (Ancren Riwle), through Anglo-Norman remedie, from Latin remedium, and †sacrilegy (early 14th cent.), from Anglo-Norman *sacrilegie or Latin sacrilegium. To both of these there are parallel forms, †remede and sacrilege, derived from continental French forms remede and sacrilege; there are several similar pairs, of which the shorter form represents a continental French form, the longer the corresponding Anglo-Norman form or the original Latin, viz. †augure¹ and augury, benefice and †beneficie (rare), †colloque and colloquy, empire (French empire) and †empery (Anglo-Norman emperie, Latin imperium), homicide n.² and †homicidie (rare), †perjure n.² (rare) and perjury, †subside (c1450–1553) and subsidy; †ingeny ‘mind’, ‘intellect’ has its etymological doublet in engine ‘native talent, genius, ingenuity, mechanical contrivance’. Most of these words, together with obloquy, came into the language before 1500. †Relevy n.¹ (medieval Latin relevium) and suspiry (Latin suspīrium) are rarities; gaudy, though partly from Latin gaudium, is probably of mixed origin; the derivation of larceny is somewhat obscure. Horology¹ (beside horologe) and mystery¹ are derived, through the medium of Latin -ium, from Greek forms having the cognate termination -ιον. This cannot be said to have been at any time a living suffix in English, but there appears to have been reminiscence of its function, combined with the false analogy of words in -ry suffix, in the coining of a few nouns from verbs ending in an r-sound, viz. enquery (c1440), inquery, inquiry (16th cent.), < enquere, inquire, expiry (from 1752) < expire, and a rare transpiry < transpire. Entreaty (16th cent.) is < entreat vb. on the analogy of treat, treaty.

1. In nouns = -ate suffix¹, as in (a) county n.¹ and adj., Old French counte, French comté, Latin comitātus, < comit-, comes count, duchy n. French duché, Latin ducātus, < duc-, dux duke, treaty n. French traité, Latin tractātus, < tractāre to treat, (b) army n. French armée, Romanic *armāta armed force, < armāre to arm, delivery n., Anglo-Norman delivree, n. < delivrer to deliver, entry n. French entrée, Romanic *intrāta, < intrāre to enter.This suffix is represented under other forms in certain words, e.g. assignee, committee, refugee (French assigné, comité, refugié), attorney (Old French atorné), alley, journey, valley (French allée, journée, vallée).

2. In adjectives = -ate suffix², as in easy, Old French aisié (French aisé), < aisier to ease. There are few general adjectives of this kind, but there is a considerable number of heraldic descriptive terms having this termination, the earliest example of which is jerownde (14th cent.), gerundi (1486), gyronny adj., < Old French geroné, gironné, < giron gyron n. Early adoptions of this class have the ending -e, later -ee, and (as early as the Book of St. Albans, 1486) often -i, later -y. With some, -y has become the regular form, as barry, bendy, fretty, fusilly, gyronny, lozengy, nowy, paly adj.², sarcelly; others are found commonly with either -é, -ée, -ee, or -y, as botoné(e, -y, checky, chequee, nébulé, -y, tenné, -y, undé(e, undy; others, of more modern introduction, usually retain the French spelling, as coupé, dancetté(e (cf. †dancy), écartelé, renversé, semée; some have been anglicized with the native participial suffix, either temporarily or permanently, as †besantid (= bezanty adj.), escarteled, paled adj.¹, resarcelled, sarcelled. In wavy (after undy) we have a rare instance of an analogical use of the suffix with a noun of native origin.

1. Used to form pet names and familiar diminutives. The forms -y and -ie are now almost equally common in proper names as such, but in a few instances one or other spelling is preferred, as Annie, Betty, Sally (rather than Anny, Bettie, Sallie); in the transferred applications of these, as jemmy, tommy, dicky, and the like, -y prevails; in general hypocoristic forms -ie is the favourite spelling after Scottish usage, as dearie, mousie. The use of -ey is subject to the same rules as for -y suffix¹. The use of this suffix in pet forms of proper names is found in Scottish as early as 1400; and in the 15th and 16th centuries instances become frequent; examples are Cryste, Cristi ( < Cristin, Cristian), Pery ( < Pere Peter), Sandy ( < Sandre for Alisandre Alexander), Jamy ( < James), Michy ( < Michel), Richy ( < Richard), Roby ( < Robert), Edi ( < Ede, Ade Adam), Anny ( < Anne), Bessy ( < Elizabeth). Such names were probably modelled originally upon forms like Davy, Mathy (= Old French Davi, Mathé), which have the appearance of being pet forms of David, Mathou. (Many have survived in Scottish surnames, as Christie, Eadie, Pirrie, Ritchie, Christison, Mathieson, Robison; Davy occurs as a surname in English use in the early 14th cent.)The formation was greatly extended in Scottish and English use; whence Annie, Billy, Carrie ( < Caroline), Charlie n., Fanny ( < Frances), Jacky n., Jenny, Jimmy n.², Johnny n., Nanny, Nellie ( < Ellen), Patty, Reggie ( < Reginald), Tommy n.¹, Willie. Many female names have corresponding forms in Dutch names with the suffix -je, as in huisje little house, < huis house n.¹ and int.; e.g. Betty, Elsie, Hetty, Katy, Lottie, Matty, Sally correspond to Dutch Betje, Elsje, Jetje, Kaatje, Lotje, Matje, Sellie; but there is no evidence of historical contact. The earliest recorded instances of the use of such proper names as appellatives are Scottish and belong to the beginning of the 16th century: viz. Lowrie ( < Lowrens Laurence) used for ‘fox’; Katy and Kitty ( < Katherine), with the meaning ‘lass, wench’, tending to a specifically depreciatory sense, ‘wanton, loose woman’, which senses belong also to the 18th century Molly and Nanny (as in nanny-house brothel); a few female names, viz. Molly and (dialectally) Peggy, have been used to designate an effeminate type of man.

The application of the female names to birds dates, according to our evidence, from the close of the 16th century; the wren is designated by Kitty and (more commonly) Jenny; in 1616 Ben Jonson calls a parrot Polly; in modern dialects Peggy is applied to various warblers and the pied wagtail, and Betty to the hedge sparrow. Then, in the course of the 17th century, these names came to be applied to various mechanical contrivances, among which machines for spinning processes and the burglar's jemmy are prominent. This transference of application is illustrated by Betty (a burglar's jemmy, 1700), Jenny (in quot. 1783 at spinning-jenny n. 1a), Jinny (a stationary engine at a mine), Peggy (a washing-tub dolly, in various dialects).

Among male names the following are typical: Johnny is used for fellow, chap, Jemmy for the burglar's weapon, Billy for a roving machine; Bobby, Charley, Dicky, Geordie, Jacky, Jockey, Tommy exhibit a great variety of modes of application.

The first known instance of the application of the suffix to a common noun is laddie n. which appears in 1546 in the form laddy, used by John Bale; but there is no evidence until the 18th century of the generalization of -y for pet diminutives. Early instances are dummie (1595), grannie (1663), dearie (1681), mousie (1693, Scottish); laddie, lassie, and sweetie were used by Allan Ramsay, and these, with Burn's birdie and mousie, helped to popularize such formations in English generally; hence the appearance in the late 18th and early 19th century of cooky, doggie, froggy, mannie, slavey. In blacky and darky there remained something of the status of a proper name; cf. fatty n. as a nickname. Bookie for bookmaker is a formation of a rare type; cf. nightie n. for nightdress.

There are two words that are generally held to contain this suffix, viz. baby (late 14th cent.) and puppy (late 15th cent.). With baby may perhaps be coupled daddy and mammy, although the evidence for these is not earlier than the 16th century; the pairs babe and baby, dad and daddy, mam and mammy, may have resulted from different phonetic reductions of original reduplicated forms *baba (cf. baban n.), *dada, *mama. The source of puppy (spelt popi in the Bk. St. Albans) is doubtful; pup is a back-formation from it.