German edit

Etymology edit

From Middle High German -erīe, from Old French -erie. The suffix first became productive in German to designate workshops pertaining to occupation names ending in -er, such as Bäckerei (bakery) from Bäcker (baker). These cases are more properly analyzed as derivations in -ei from the occupation name. Later on, -erei began to be freely attached to verb stems, autonomously from agent nouns. Compare e.g. Bäckerei above with Backerei (baking) derived directly from backen (to bake). Similar developments took place in Dutch -erij and, to a lesser degree, English -ery.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /əˈʁaɪ̯/
  • (file)

Suffix edit

-erei f (genitive -erei, plural (rare) -ereien)

  1. Used to form verbal nouns, which often have an informal, frequentative and/or negative overtone.
    Synonym: ge-
    warten (to wait) + ‎-erei → ‎Warterei ([lengthy] waiting)
    singen (to sing) + ‎-erei → ‎Singerei ([unpleasant] singing)

Usage notes edit

  • This suffix is of virtually unlimited productivity in colloquial German.
  • Verbs whose stems end in -er or -el use the simple suffix -ei instead:
quengeln (to whine)Quengelei (whining)

Derived terms edit

See also edit

Italian edit

Etymology edit

From -er- + -ei.

The Italian conditional mood stems from a Vulgar Latin periphrastic verb form consisting of infinitive + perfect of habere. Example: Italian loderei (I would praise) stems from Vulgar Latin laudare + hĕbui.[1]

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /eˈrɛj/
  • Rhymes: -ɛj
  • Hyphenation: -e‧rèi

Suffix edit

-erei (non-lemma form of verb-forming suffix)

  1. used with a stem to form the first-person singular conditional of regular -are and -ere verbs
See also Italian grammar, section Conditional mood in the English Wikipedia.

Related terms edit

Verb affix + Historic → Conditional
-er-, -ir- + -ei -erei, -irei
-esti -eresti, -iresti
-ebbe -erebbe, -irebbe
-emmo -eremmo, -iremmo
-este -ereste, -ireste
-ebbero -erebbero, -irebbero

References edit

  1. 1.0 1.1 Patota, Giuseppe (2002) Lineamenti di grammatica storica dell'italiano (in Italian), Bologna: il Mulino, →ISBN, page 153

Anagrams edit