10.4: §71. The Perfect Participle Base suffix -IO as Abstract Noun
Of all ways to create abstract nouns from Latin verbs, the overwhelming favourite was the addition of the suffix -io to the perfect participle base (or less commonly to the present infinitive base). For example, from dicere , dictus (“speak”), Latin could create an abstract noun dict-io , dict-ionis , which meant “speech” (or “the act of speech,” “the process of speaking,” etc.). Notice that this is a perfectly regular 3rd declension noun, whose base is diction- . Here, then, is the explanation for all those -ion derivatives that we noticed in the last chapter. Historically, English forms in -ion can be traced back through Old French to medieval accusative forms like dictionem , which were prevalent in vulgar Latin at a time when the nominative forms had all but disappeared. For practical purposes, however, we can equate the English -ion spelling with the BASE form of Latin nouns in -io , -ionis. [1] This is a valid historical approach, because the majority of the -ion forms came into Modern English after the Renaissance, drawn directly from Latin nouns on the analogy of the older -ion derivatives. New examples are still being coined today.
To the student of English vocabulary, this circumstance is nothing less than a godsend. Although you may never have stopped to think how many -ion nouns there are in our language, you can be sure that there are enough to keep you counting for hours on end. Almost without exception ( ex-cept-io ), they will have a Latin derivation ( de-rivat-io ), and that knowledge should be reason [2] for great satisfaction ( satis-fact-io )—perhaps even be an occasion ( oc-cas-io ) for exultation ( ex-sultat-io ). There can be few aspects of English etymology that are more dependable: virtually every -ion noun that you meet can now send you scurrying in search of a Latin perfect participle, whose meaning is almost guaranteed to unlock the semantic secrets of that English noun.
If you want to test that assertion ( ad-sert-io ), you can take another quick tour of the Latin verbs on Tables 9.1 , 9.2 , 9.3 , and 9.4 , applying the -ion test to the perfect participles. What you will now be uncovering is a series of Latin 3rd declension abstract nouns in -io , -ionis , probably the largest single category of Latin derivatives in English.
-
This
-ion
noun base may be further extended in Latin forms like
diction-arium
, E
dictionary
, “a place for words.” (There was also a medieval Latin expression,
liber dictionarius
, “word-book.”) ↵
-
Reason
is a word which has lost its
-ion
in the French
transmission
(<
trans-missio
, “a sending across”). The doublets
reason
and
ration
are both derived from
ratio
, a noun formed from the past participle of
reri
,
ratus
(“think”). Similar doublets are
fashion
(Fr.
façon
) and
faction
, both from
factio
. ↵