Old English · suffix
-u
- Part of speech
- suffix, feminine
- Declension
- strong īn-stem
- IPA
- /u/
- Syllables
- u (1 syllable)
- Modern English
- abstracti-mutationmodernprecededremainingsyllableija-stemnormally
-u1 · suffix · feminine
Senses
-
ending used to form abstract nouns from adjectives (compare Modern English -ness), normally causing i-mutation, and remaining even when preceded by a long syllable
eald (“old”) + -u → ieldu (“age”)
Declension · strong īn-stem
-u2 · suffix
Senses
-
Used to form the first person singular present indicative of strong verbs and class I weak verbs
beran (“bear”) + -u → beru (“I bear”)
-u3 · suffix · feminine
Senses
-
Used to form the nominative singular of short ō-stem nouns
ġiefu (“gift”)
-u4 · suffix
Senses
-
Used to form the nominative and accusative singular of short u-stem nouns
sunu (“son”)
-u5 · suffix · neuter
Senses
-
Used to form the nominative and accusative plural of short a-stem and all ija-stem neuter nouns
clif (“cliff”) + -u → clifu (“cliffs”)
-u6 · suffix
Senses
-
Forms the strong nominative feminine singular and strong nominative/accusative neuter plural of adjectives
unārīmedlīċ + -u → unārīmedlīċu
All forms (4)
Etymology
From suppletive fusion of ō-stem feminine singular nominative ending -u and Proto-Germanic *-į̄ (“feminine abstract ending”). Akin to Gothic feminine abstracts in - (-ei) (compare (mikilei, “greatness”); (diupei, “depth”)).
From Proto-West Germanic *-u, from Proto-Germanic *-ō. Apocope should have caused the loss of this ending after heavy stems, but the Anglian dialects generally retained it by analogy with short stems, or for its morphological significance. In West Saxon, this apocope led to replacement with the subjunctive singular -e, which was then extended to short stem verbs as well.
From Proto-West Germanic *-u, from Proto-Germanic *-ō
From Proto-West Germanic *-u, from Proto-Germanic *-uz
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-u · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution