itself | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

3 entries found.

hydrocarbon suffix, from Greek name-forming element -ene. It has no real meaning in itself; in chemistry terminology probably abstracted from methylene (1834). Put in systematic use by Hofmann (1865).

-el (2)

diminutive suffix (though in Modern English not always perceived as such), from Old French -el (fem. -elle, Modern French -el, -eau), from Latin -ellus, -ella, -ellum, diminutive suffix, from PIE *-olo-lo-, itself a double diminutive, from *-lo- (see -ule).

-sk

reflexive suffix in words of Danish origin (such as bask, literally "to bathe oneself"), contracted from Old Norse sik, reflexive pronoun corresponding to Gothic sik, Old High German sih, German sich "himself, herself, itself," from PIE root *s(w)e- (source of Latin se "himself;" see idiom).

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