meaning of "-le"

[freddie]

Dear Sir or Madam,
I want to know the meaning of the suffix '-le',but I do not see explanations in dictionary.
I have seen it in words like startle,handle,jingle,and so on.
I deeply believe learning meaning of suffixs can help me comprehend English much better.
longing for your help.

[queenbu]

As far as I know 'le' are just two letters at the end of the word.They don't have a specific meaning.start is a word and startle is a completely different word.It's not like the suffix -ly.slow-slowly;quick-quickly Here it changes the word from an adjective into an adverb.

[dragonfly8]

Hello,to me le is no more than a phonestheme;just consider that they are two letters appart but they don't deeply have any influence on the meaning of a given word.
Phonesthemes are not considerered by linguists as a morpheme or an affix.
In most of the words they appear at random I guess.

[freddie]

As a matter of fact,it is

I saw the"with a frequentative or diminutive force" explanation of "-le" as a suffix

on a web giving knowledge about English through my native language

that I want to confirm it among pure-English contexts,and I happened to see this site.

I doubt the exactness of explaining English by some other language.

And now I see this from Dictionary.com Word FAQs:-le* often(verb),little(noun).I suppose my question is resolved.

However,thank you very much,you two the above who put forword your helping hand. with all my

sincerity.I did not hold the hope that I would meet with any help.

[Casiopea]

Welcome, Freddy.

The suffix -le, also -el, (Anglo-Saxon in origin) was once a diminutive marker; e.g., navel, gravel; Cheatle (a place name).

All the best.

[rewboss]

"startle" comes from Middle English "stertlen", meaning "to stumble" or "to rush", and is the frequentative of "sterten", "to walk".

"handle" comes from "hand" and refers to something which is designed to be held in the hand. I suppose it could be a "little hand", I'm not sure.

"jingle", apparently, is echoic, meaning that the word itself sounds like the thing it is referring to (here, the sound of a number of small bells or other metal objects). In this word, then, the "-le" ending truly has no actual meaning.

[queenbu]

I never knew there were so many prefixes and suffixes!!!
http://ueno.cool.ne.jp/let/prefix.html
However I didn't find -le.Is it because it's a 'has- been'?Is 'has-been' used only for people?

[freddie]

Welcome, Freddy.
The suffix -le, also -el, (Anglo-Saxon in origin) was once a diminutive marker; e.g., navel, gravel; Cheatle (a place name).
All the best.

Hi,Casiopea.I've found this forum really a great place.

I will enjoy myself here.

You say "-le" was once a diminutive marker,does that mean nowadays it has no longer been the diminutive marker?

[freddie]

Thanks a million for your kind and detailed help ,rewboss.

"startle" comes from Middle English "stertlen", meaning "to stumble" or "to rush", and is the frequentative of "sterten", "to walk".

And I still have a puzzle:

Since "stertlen" is the frequentative of "sterten",then if I repeat the action of walking,am I rushing?

"handle" comes from "hand" and refers to something which is designed to be held in the hand. I suppose it could be a "little hand", I'm not sure.

handle (n.) - O.E. handle, formed from hand in the sense of a tool in the way that "thimble" was formed from thumb.The verb is O.E. handlian "to touch or move with the hands."

I guess perhaps because the comparing object to hand is rather large.

"jingle", apparently, is echoic, meaning that the word itself sounds like the thing it is referring to (here, the sound of a number of small bells or other metal objects). In this word, then, the "-le" ending truly has no actual meaning.

On webs of my lannguage,I saw"-le" in "jingle" are also put in category "with a frequentative force",I suppose maybe that's because the action of making that sound is repeated.


Thanks again.I love the way you say things in your reply. You make them seem so clear and logical.

[freddie]

I never knew there were so many prefixes and suffixes!!!
http://ueno.cool.ne.jp/let/prefix.html
However I didn't find -le.Is it because it's a 'has- been'?Is 'has-been' used only for people?

queenbu,maybe the suffix list you hold only includes the most usual ones.

I don't see "-le" suffix in dictionary either,do I?

Moreover,I'm not quite clear about your last sentence.What do you mean
by "is 'has-been' used only for people?"