LME -ship(e)

Abstract

In the paper I attempt to present the semantic evolution of the suffix -ship(e) from Early to Late Middle English. The major development in Late Middle English was the replacement of the dominant EME sense ‘a quality’ in a fairly large number of derivatives by one of the originally minor senses, i.e. ‘a status, rank, an office’. The original EME sense ‘a condition, state of being’, however, was commonly preserved in Late Middle English. The suffix was highly productive in the period not only in new coinages of native origin but also in Scandinavian and French hybrids. It appeared in all the dialects.