• Dutch
  • Frisian
  • Saterfrisian
  • Afrikaans
Show all
-en
quickinfo

Present participles formed with the ending -end could be transposed to adjectives. These lost their final /d/ by a general historical phonological process. Later the ending -end became restored under Dutch influence, but some lexicalized cases retained the ending -en. An example is mije to avoid > mijen diffident. In most derivations with -en, the base form is not or hardly recognizable anymore.

readmore
[+]General properties

A historical deletion process affected final /d/ after /n/, compare Frisian sân with English sand and Frisian wyn with English wind. For a phonological account, see the topic on word-final sequences of a nasal and an obstruent. Present participles, ending in /-end/, also suffered from this change. Due to this, one can find a few adjectives and adverbs of the form 'verb + -en', remnants of an adjectively used former present participle. Examples are given in the table below:

Table 1
Base form Derivation
opljeppe to leap up opljeppen hot-tempered
hoede to keep watch over hoeden cautious
raze to rage razen(d) furious
ûntlitte to temper ûntlitten(d) thawy

In a later stage, the form of the ending of the present participle became restored to -end, a form which transpositions to adjectives still show. In contrast to this productive process, formations with -en are typically lexicalized, often with a non-transparent semantics. In most derivations with -en [ən], the base form is not even recognizable anymore. Examples are given below:

Table 2
Derivation
keken choosy
rimpen hasty
gysten hasty
trinten neat
derten playful
Derivations with -en from verbs are therefore rare and unproductive.

[+]Morphological potential

Derivations with -en from verbs can be input for the suffixes -ens and -heid. Examples are opljeppenens / opljeppenheid short-temperedness, from opljeppen hot-tempered.

extra
Literature

This topic is based on Hoekstra (1998:133). More information about the suffix -en based on verbs can be found in Sytstra and Hof (1925:138-139).

References
  • Hoekstra, Jarich1998Fryske wurdfoarmingLjouwertFryske Akademy
  • Sytstra, Onno H. & Hof, Jan J1925Nieuwe Friesche SpraakkunstLeeuwardenR. van der Velde
printreport errorcite