The subject of the history of the English

        The development of the verb-adverb combi.r1ations was connected with the position of the Germanic stress on the first, or root syllable. The locative prefixes, when used in their primary meaning, were strongly stressed, which must have contradicted the general law of the stress and, therefore, the stressed prefixes were separated and placed in the new position after the verb. . .

It is also believed that the Scandinavian influence might have promoted the development of the new structural type, for in the Scandinavian dialects the combination of a verb with a locative adverb was

very common.

                                                                      Suffixation

        Old English Suffixes in Middle and New English. The OE suffixes of concrete nouns -nd, -en, and some suffixes of abstract nouns –aÞ/-oÞ, -Þ, -t, -u were no longer employed in Middle English for the formation of new words.. Other OE suffixes remained productive throughout the ME period and preserved their productivity up to modern times forming new words both from native and borrowed stems. However the OE suffixes that are still productive in the present-day English language have undergone considerable changes either in the range of their application or in their lexical meaning or sometimes in both. For example, OE -isc was originally used in forming adjectives from nouns:

OE cildisc > NE childish. In ME this suffix was combined with adjective stems, especially those denoting colour: ME redische > NE reddish; ME blewysch > NE bluish.

        One of the most productive suffixes -er was used in OE for the formation of new words from noun- and verb-stems. In later ages it was also combined with adjective-stems, e.g. foreigner, fresher. Some suffixes developed new meanings and became polysemantic or even homonymous. Thus, the suffix -er in Old and Middle English was used to form nomina agentis, whereas in Early New English it developed a new meaning - that of an instrument or an implement. E.g., boiler "one who boils" (16th c) and boiler "a vessel in which any liquid is boiled" (18th c.). The OE suffix -isc > NE -ish when combined with noun-stems, had the meaning "characteristic of' (ME folisch > NE foolish; ENE feverish); but when it came to be combined with adjective-stems it began to denote a weakened degree of the quality indicated by the stem (ME elowissche > NE yellowish).

         New Suffixes Borrowed in Middle and New English. Since the end of the ME period extensive use has been made of foreign suffixes borrowed from French, Latin and Greek. Some of the borrowed suffixes were employed for word-building already in Middle English, but most of them grew productive only in the Early New English period.

         Many of the borrowed suffixes from the very beginning were restricted in use to scientific and technical terminology, e.g. -ist, -ism, -ate and some others. Similar to prefixes, some of the borrowed suffixes turned out synonymous to native or other foreign suffixes which necessitated some differentiation in their use. For example, the suffixes -ness (native) and -(i)ty (Fr.) had the same meaning of some quality, but they differed in their use. Firstly, the application of the borrowed suffix was restricted by scientific and technical terminology, whereas the native suffix had a wide range of application. Secondly, -(i)ty could be combined only with adjective sterns of Latin and French origin, while the native suffix -ness was not restricted in this respect.

Words. Already in OE new suffixes were developing from the second components of compound words. This process continued in ME and resulted in the appearance of suffixes: -dom, -hood, -ship (noun-building ,suffixes); -ful, -less, -ly, (adjective-building suffixes).

In the New English period all the adjective-building suffixes were likewise frequently used in the making of new words, but the noun-building suffixes -hood, and -ship became less productive and their usage more restricted.

Examples of derivatives with the suffixes: ful- -less, -ly; -dom, -hood, -ship in ME: harmful, skilful, sleepless, joyless, sickly, masterly, sheriffdom, dukedom, manhood, masterhood, hardship, fellowship; in NE: hopeful, successful, dreamless, motionless, elderly, hourly, boydom, churchdom, motherhood, sainthood, ownership, courtship.

                                                                  Conversion.

         Conversion implies the formation from a word belonging to one part of speech of a new word belonging to a different part of speech without any changes in the initial form of the word, but through a change in its paradigm. It is usually assumed that the levelling of forms which resulted from the general decay of the OE inflectional system gave rise to this new means of word derivation. After the loss of the final unstressed syllables the initial forms of the verb (the infinitive) and that of the noun coincided in a great number of words containing the same root: OE andswarian (v) > ME answere > NE answer; OE andswaru (n) > ME answere> NE answer.

         As a word-building means conversion made itself evident since the end of the 13th century, rapidly growing numerically towards the close of the 14th century. Since that time conversion has become one of the major means of forming new words in English. In all times conversion was employed mostly for the formation of verbs from nouns and nouns from verbs.

Word Composition

         In OE compound words were formed either by combining two or more stems after a definite structural pattern without any connecting sound (primary compounds) or appeared as a result of semantic and structural isolation of free syntactical phrases (secondary compounds). In a small group of compound words the stems were joined by a connecting element. These ways of word compounding have been preserved through the history of the English language though their structural patterns have been constantly changing. .The OE type of compound words with a connecting element (Late OE -e-) did not prove productive and only occasional compounds were formed in Middle English: ME penny-knyfe > NE pen-knife. However, in the NE period some other sounds came to serve as connecting elements: -s-, -o-, -i-.

                                                Asyntactic Compounds

        Asyntactic compounds (termed 'primary" in reference to OE word compounding) in Middle and New English, as well as in OE, were mostly nouns and adjectives, compound verbs being much less numerous. Not all the earliest types of compound nouns, remained productive throughout the history of the English language.

        Another development of the ME period was the emergence of  compounds built after the patterns "noun-stem + verb-stern" (simple or derived), e.g. ME huswerminge  > NE house-warming; ME coke - fyghtynge > NE cock-fighting.

        The only type that was productive in all periods of the English language, was the one built after the pattern "noun-stem + noun-stern": OE winter-tide> NE winter-tide; ME spryng-flood > NE spring-flood.

                                            Compound Adjectives

        Compound adjectives of the a syntactic type were built in ME after various patterns which go back to OE, but not all of them have been preserved ,in ME. For example, the OE pattern "adjective stem + adjective stem" (OE wīd - al "wandering") did not gain much productivity in ME.

        Another pattern of compound adjectives "noun-stem + participle-stem" found as early as Old English (OE frum-sceapen "first formed") was not freely used until the NE period, but has become highly productive since the 19th century; ENE heart-broken, NE poverty-stricken. Only the pattern "noun-stem + adjective-stem" (OE īscalde > NE icecold) was commonly used in all periods and became especially productive in NE: ME coldblake > NE coal-black. .

                                            Syntactic Compounds

         Syntactic compounds were mostly nouns. In OE this type of compounding was represented by the principal pattern "noun-in-the-Genitive-case + noun" (OE landesman > NE landsman). Quite a few compounds were built after this pattern: ME craftisman. > NE craftsman. The -s- element in these compounds represents the Genitive case inflection of nouns. In the course of time -s- lost its grammatical meaning and came to be regarded as a connecting element: NE spokesman, sportsman.

Compound nouns with an adjective-stem as the first component (adjective-stem + noun-stem) were but few in number in OE. However, since ENE the productivity of this pattern considerably increased: ENE blue-bottle, NE bluebird, night-shift, etc. b ME a new structural pattern of syntactic compounds developed: "verb-stem +noun-stern": ME drawbridge, ENE pickpocket, NE turn-table.

        The development of verb-adverb  combinations in ME gave rise to another new pattern of compound nouns of syntactic type: "verb-stem + adverb-stem": ENE runaway. NE take-off.