-lech

See also: lech and Lech

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old High German -līh, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *-līkaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ləɕ/

Suffix

-lech

1. -like, -ly, -ous

Derived terms

Luxembourgish terms suffixed with -lech

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Middle High German

Etymology

Often taken to derive from earlier -ech, -ehe (etc), from the Old High German collective suffix -ahi (German -ach, -ich, as in Kräuterich), with the origin of the -l- being unclear (some instances seem to be attested as early as Old High German, e.g. chrūtelīh, whence krûtelech). The suffix is found on singular as well as plural nouns, often with collective meaning but sometimes with diminutive meaning; in various dialects and descendants, it came to be treated as a plural of the diminutive suffix -l. Sometimes connected to Old High German -līh (whence German -lich) instead.

Suffix

-lech

1. (dialectal) suffix used to form singular and plural nouns with collective and diminutive meaning

   dingelich, krûtelech

Alternative forms

• -lach, -lich, -lêhe

Descendants

• (via one or more dialects) Yiddish: ־לעך (-lekh)

Further reading

• Fritz Hastenpflug, Das Diminutiv in der deutschen Originalliteratur des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts (1914)
• Gertraud Winkler, Die Wortbildung mit "-lich" im Alt-, Mittel- und Frühneuhochdeutschen (1995)