-ijiet

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Maltese

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Arabic ـِيَّات (-iyyāt), feminine plural of the derivational suffix ـِيّ (-iyy), whence Maltese -i. Natively used with nouns in -ija, then probably first extended to Sicilian borrowings in -i and finally also to consonant-final borrowings.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Suffix

[edit]

-ijiet

  1. a common plural suffix for nouns
    1. used with native nouns in -ija as well as some borrowings with this ending (most Romance words have -iji instead)
      tfittxija (search) + ‎-ijiet → ‎tfittxijiet (searches)
      gawwija (seagull) + ‎-ijiet → ‎gawwijiet (seagulls)
    2. used with borrowed nouns in -i or consonants as well as a small number of native nouns
      impressjoni (impression) + ‎-ijiet → ‎impressjonijiet (impressions)
      patt (pact) + ‎-ijiet → ‎pattijiet (pacts)
      sptar (hospital) + ‎-ijiet → ‎sptarijiet (hospitals)
      omm (mother) + ‎-ijiet → ‎ommijiet (mothers)
[edit]

See also

[edit]