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    -ij and allomorphs
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    -ij /ɛɪ/ is a stress-bearing suffix found in abstract and concrete nouns of common gender such as voogdij guardianship (< voogd guardian). A number of allomorphs occur: productive -(d)erij ( /ərɛɪ/, /dərɛɪ/) (e.g. boerderij farm < boer farmer) and -arij ( /arɛɪ/) (e.g. ambtenarij bureaucracy, cf. ambtenaar civil servant), and unproductive -enij ( /ənɛɪ/), -nij ( /nɛɪ/), -ernij ( /ərnɛɪ/), -dij ( /dɛɪ/) and -elij ( /əlɛɪ/). Bases are verbs and nouns of native and foreign origin. There are two basic meanings: either a particular kind of behaviour, or a hobby, profession or business. The suffix is also a source of synthetic compounds such as mooipraterij humbug (< mooi beautiful and praat talk) and pretmakerij fun making (< pret fun and maak make). Plural forms, if applicable, are in -en, e.g. bakkerijen /bɑ.kə.'rɛɪ.ən/ bakeries.

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    -ij /ɛɪ/ is a suffix of Romance origin that has almost completely been integrated into the Germanic part of the language system. It has two basic meanings: either a particular (sometimes annoying) kind of behaviour, or it refers to a hobby, profession or business(Hüning 1999): 213, (Booij 2002: 126). There are four productive allomorphs: ij ( /ɛɪ/), -erij ( /ərɛɪ/), -derij ( /dərɛɪ/) and -arij ( /arɛɪ/), as well as a number of unproductive ones: -enij ( /ənɛɪ/), -nij ( /nɛɪ/), -ernij ( /ərnɛɪ/), -dij ( /dɛɪ/) and -elij ( /əlɛɪ/).

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    The suffix -(er)ij is historically related to the French suffix -erie that has also been borrowed (again) as such in present-day Dutch, as shown by recent coinings such as condomerie condom shop and baderie bathroom shop(Booij 2002: 126). The current form -erij is the result of diphthongization of the (long) /i/ and apocope of the final vowel of -(er)ië, which is obsolete but can still be seen as -ije in Hongarije Hungary and Lombardije LombardyInstituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie (1995). The oldest words in -(er)ie are borrowings: either Latin words in -ia or French ones in -ie, but forms like beckerie (cf. modern bakkerij bakery) (attested 1240) show the existence of an early indigenous productive suffix(Van der Sijs 2010). -ie often occurred after words in -er, which resulted in a new suffix -erie, of which gasterie hostel, inn (< gast guest) (ca. 1270) is the earliest instance: *gaster did and does not exist.

    Unlike most other suffixes forming action nouns, -ij and its allomorphs also take nouns as bases, and are used to coin synthetic compounds as well. The table here (expanded after Booij (2002: 126)) gives an overview of the productive cases.

    Table 1
    Affix allomorph Derived noun Base category Base(s)
    -ij voogdij guardianship N voogd guardian
    kledij clothing V kleed to dress
    ambtenarij bureaucracy N ambtenaar civil servant
    -erij dromerij dreaming V droom to dream
    vliegerij the world of flying V vlieg to fly
    bloemisterij florist's shop N bloemist florist
    smeerlapperij filthy behavior N smeerlap dirty fellow
    mooipraterij humbug A+V mooi beautiful, praat to talk
    pretmakerij fun making N+V pret fun, maak to make
    veelwijverij polygamy Q+N veel much, wijf woman
    -derij promoveerderij graduation V promoveer to graduate
    boerderij farm N boer farmer
    koffiemaalderij coffee mill N+V koffie coffee, maal to grind
    -arij wandelarij walking V wandel to walk
    botersmokkelarij butter smuggling A+V boter butter, smokkel to smuggle
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    In some cases it is unclear whether the basis is nominal or verbal(Haas 1993:238), (Haeseryn 1997): wandelarij walking may be derived by means of -arij from the verb wandel to walk or from the noun wandelaar walker, kledij clothing may be from the noun kleed cloth or from the verb kleed to dress, boerderij farm may derive from the noun boer farmer or from the verb boer to farm, etc. lekkernij delicacy (< lekker delicious) and (woestenij wilderness < woest wild) are derived from adjectives.

    Haplology can be seen in cases where the base ends in schwa plus /r/ such as slagerij butchery (< slager butcher) and kosterij verger's house (< koster verger, sacristan), the variant -dij is found in makelaardij brokerage (< makelaar broker) and in proosdij deanery (< proost dean) and koopvaardij merchant shipping (< koop buy and vaart sailing) (De Haas and Trommelen 1993: 239), whereas the variants -ij and -dij are found only after the suffix -schap and after dental consonants (maatschappij society, dwingelandij tyranny (< dwingeland tyrant)). -ernij occurs in slavernij slaveryrazernij frenzyzotternij folly and spotternij mockery, -elij in makelij produce (< maken to make), -enij in artsenij medicament (<arts medical doctor). If the base is a verbal stem ending in /schwa l/, we get -arij (): bottelarij bottling plant, kietelarij tickling, wandelarij walking.
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    Rather than assuming an allomorph -ij in voogdij guardianship (voogd guardian), one might also think of -dij plus degemination. There is vowel lengthening or stem allomorphy in smederij smithy < smid blacksmith.

    Derivations in -ij and its allomorphs are of common gender, selecting the singular definite article de. The only exception is schilderij painting, which is usually of neuter gender (with the singular definite article het) but is of common gender when it has the more abstract meaning the activity of painting.

    Following Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie (1995) we can distinguish a number of uses and meanings of -ij and its allomorphs:

    • when the basis is a noun denoting a person, the derivation may denote:
      • a state, job, etc., e.g. slavernij slavery (< slaaf slave) or voogdij guardianship (< voogd guardian);
      • a place or building where one works, etc., e.g. houtvesterij forestry (< houtvester forester) or abdij abbey (related to abt abbot);
      • an act or behaviour, etc., e.g. ketterij heresy (< ketter heretic) or dwingelandij tyranny (< dwingeland tyrant);
      • a business or the place where a business is being carried out, e.g. bloemisterij florist (< bloemist florist) or drogisterij drugstore (< drogist druggist).
    • when the basis is a deverbal noun derived by means of -er or -aar, the derivation may denote:
      • an act, usually done repeatedly or continuously, e.g. bedelarij mendicancy (< bedelaar beggar) or schijterij diarrhoea (< schijter shitter or schijten to shit); a related meaning is found in synthetic compounds such as harddraverij harness (horse) race (< hard fast and draven to trot);
      • a business or the location of this business, e.g. boekbinderij bindery (< boek book and binder binder) or stokerij distillery (< stoker distiller).
    • when the basis is a noun or a verbal stem, the derivation may denote:
      • a product, e.g. artsenij medicine (< arts doctor) or schilderij painting (< schilderen to paint);
      • a collective, e.g. burgerij citizenry (< burger citizen) or kledij clothing (< kleden to dress).
    • when the basis is a derived noun, the derivation is in a sense superfluous, e.g. heerschappij lordship (< heerschap heer-schap lordship) and maatschappij society (< maatschap society).

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    Haeseryn (1997: 674) treats -ij in collectives derived from nouns such as burgerij citizenry (< burger citizen) and ruiterij cavalry (< ruiter horseman) as a separate suffix.

    The only case where a female profession may have been input to this type of derivation is hoererij whoredom (< hoer prostitute), but note that there is also a verb hoereren to whore, to fornicate.

    For many words in -erij and -arij it is unclear whether they are deverbal or denominal: voetballerij soccer playing may be analyzed as voetbal soccer, soccer ball (N orV?) + -erij, but also as voetballer soccer player + -ij(Haeseryn et al. 1997: 672), (Booij 2002: 127)). De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 237-8) argue that we are dealing with simplex suffixes -arij and -(d)erij, that is, that we should not analyse formations with them as -ij derivations of the personal nouns in -aar or -(d)er, as verbal stems ending in schwa plus /r/ do allow for personal noun formation in -aar (e.g. woekeraar and verzekeraar), but not for -arij derivations (no *woekerarij or *verzekerarij). (Haeseryn et al. 1997: 672), however, stress the fact that the distribution of -erij vs. -arij is almost parallel to that of -er vs. -aar, which can be taken as an argument that derivations -erij and -arij are best analyzed as -ij derivations of -er and -aar formations, respectively. Construction Morphology(Booij 2010) allows for a merger of two derivational processes, which can be captured in the unified schemas [[X –er]ij] and [[X –aar]ij].

    There is a small number of formations in -ij without a corresponding base in (current) Dutch, such as partij party, snuisterij trinket and specerij spice.

    Hüning (1995) observes that a lot of Dutch derivations in -erij, as well as the word formation process, have been adopted in Afrikaans. Over time, however, the Afrikaans system has changed considerably:

    • the stress behavior of the suffix has changed: stress is no longer on the suffix but on the stem;
    • the -arij variant has been replaced by -ry, which is unknown in Dutch;
    • in general, the semantics of Afrikaans -ery derivations is more abstract (denoting more an action) than Dutch derivations with -erij;
    • -ery is more productive than, and appears to take over the function of, nominalizing ge-;
    • Afrikaans -ery is less restricted than Dutch -erij, e.g., -ery can combine with modal verbs (e.g. willery < wil to want);
    • Afrikaans has developed a new word formation process combining ge- and -ry resulting in intensifying readings (e.g. dis 'n verskriklike gebrandewynsuipery this-is a terrible brandy-boozing.

    The suffix and all its allomorphs are stress-bearing, with stress on /ɛɪ/.

    Derivations in -ij easily enter into compounds, both as left-hand part (e.g. maatschappijleer sociology) and as right-hand part (e.g. zorgboerderij care farmhostiebakkerij wafer bakery). Plurals (when applicable) are formed with the suffix in -en, diminutives (when applicable) are predictably formed with the allomorph -tje (boerderijtje small farm). Occasionally, -ij derivations are input to further derivation (voogdijschap guardianship < voogdij guardianship).

    References
    • Booij, Geert2002The morphology of DutchOxfordOxford University Press
    • Booij, Geert2002The morphology of DutchOxfordOxford University Press
    • Booij, Geert2002The morphology of DutchOxfordOxford University Press
    • Booij, Geert2002The morphology of DutchOxfordOxford University Press
    • Booij, Geert2010Construction morphologyOxford/New YorkOxford University Press
    • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
    • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
    • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
    • Haeseryn, Walter, Romijn, Kirsten, Geerts, Guido, Rooij, Jaap de & Toorn, Maarten C. van den1997Algemene Nederlandse spraakkunstGroningenNijhoff
    • Haeseryn, Walter, Romijn, Kirsten, Geerts, Guido, Rooij, Jaap de & Toorn, Maarten C. van den1997Algemene Nederlandse spraakkunstGroningenNijhoff
    • Haeseryn, Walter, Romijn, Kirsten, Geerts, Guido, Rooij, Jaap de & Toorn, Maarten C. van den1997Algemene Nederlandse spraakkunstGroningenNijhoff
    • Haeseryn, Walter, Romijn, Kirsten, Geerts, Guido, Rooij, Jaap de & Toorn, Maarten C. van den1997Algemene Nederlandse spraakkunstGroningenNijhoff
    • Hüning, Matthias1995Woordvorming met -ery in het AfrikaansLeuvense Bijdragen84505-517
    • Hüning, Matthias1999Woordensmederij. De geschiedenis van het suffix -erijUtrechtLOT
    • Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie1995Het Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal (WNT)
    • Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie1995Het Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal (WNT)
    • Sijs, Nicoline van der2010Etymologiebank, http://etymologiebank.nl/
    About this article
    Author(s): Ton van der Wouden
    Category: Dutch Morphology
    Keywords: nounderivationsuffix
    Version: 1.0, December 2015
    Version history:
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    1.0 Ton van der Wouden December 2015
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