Talk:-ický
Czech suffix[edit]
-ický looks like it could be a Czech suffix.
Slovník afixů redirects -ický to -ký, and has entry -ký/-oký/-eký/-iký/-ec-ký/-(n)ic-ký in Slovník afixů užívaných v češtině, 2017. The last item in the list suggests something like support from Slovník afixů for the suffix.
The Slovník afixů entry indicates -ický e.g. for stranický, which I would have analyzed as straník + -ký, where the final "k" turns to "c" to prevent double k in *stranikký. I am surprised.
The Slovník afixů entry excludes logický from -ický, as well as organický, belgický, etc.; it does so by excluding it from the pertinent query under the SYN2010 pseudo-heading. logický and its ilk are further candidates for having this putative suffix. In logický, one could argue that it is from logika + -ký and that again, the k in "logika" turns to "c", or that it is from logika + -cký, where the switch to use of c is expressly covered by the suffix. Alternatively, one can point to logický originating from something like English logical and Latin logicus, which would further be traced to Latin -icus or Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós). While Slovník afixů excludes logický from the entry referenced above, it does not include it in the results in any other entry. It seems to cover logický without mentioning it by the following: "Stranou ponecháváme adjektiva od substantiv cizího původu zakončená na -ic-ký, u nichž lze předpokládat fundující slova cizího původu na ► -ik, ► -ika, ► -ikum, ► -ikon." Well, they leave it aside from that one entry, but how do they analyze it, then?
--Dan Polansky (talk) 13:07, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
My latest best estimate is this: an automatic mapping from Latin -icus (English -ical) to -ický was established at some point of language history. The suffix -ský and its variant -cký could have played a role in the establishment of -ický. When the establishment happened, an -ický adjective was created automatically (when need arose) based on a Latin adjective or the corresponding adjective of a European language without investigating whether a base Czech word suffixed with -ik, -ika, -ikum, or -ikon exists. Candidate adjectives supporting this hypothesis include alibistický, atomický, buddhistický, dualistický, monistický (and some other among those formed from -ista words), and rombický. Another supporting piece is chemický: while it can be claimed to be derived from chemik, that does not seem particularly plausible to me. My best current guess is that chemický = the stem of chemie + -ický; the stem would be something like chem-, apparent e.g. in chemoterapie. I would analyze magnetický as magnet + -ický rather than as magnetikum + -cký or even -ký.
On a different note, -istika in Slovník afixů užívaných v češtině, 2017 mentions "srov. též paralelní slovotvornou řadu se sufixy ► -ik (logik); ► -ický (logický); ► -ika (logika)"; this entry (author JB) assigns logický to -ický, unlike the entry -ký/-oký/-eký/-iký/-ec-ký/-(n)ic-ký in Slovník afixů užívaných v češtině, 2017 (author KO). Thus, at least one entry lends support to -ický as covering logický and its ilk. (I am not sure I would create -istika; a break up into -ista + -ika seems better to me, and similarly -istický = -ista + -ický. This would correspond to linguist + -ics in linguistics in the English Wiktionary.)