4 ms·

Just informational: the esc sound meaning "-like" is rendered as esque. We "borrowed" it from the French, and we're not giving it back.

• ncmncm 7y ago
  Similarly to "isch" from German, which we filed the serial numbers off of, and respelled "ish". For some reason we are squeamish about doing that to French. Perhaps ironically, we took squeamish from French escoymous, but substituted "our" suffix.
  • magissima 7y ago
    "From Middle English -ish, -isch, from Old English -isċ (“-ish”, suffix), from Proto-Germanic -iskaz (“-ish”), from Proto-Indo-European -iskos." https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ish https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ish
    • pessimizer 7y ago
      Yeah, it's a little misleading to say that English borrowed that ending from German, English is a Germanic language and always had it.
      • ncmncm 7y ago
        Ok, and "-ish" and "-esque" clearly both trace back to the Proto-indo-european. So we're really just talking about spelling standards, which are a recent innovation.
  • deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]