Suffix

[matin]

What is problematic in
1. regiment
2fragment

ment, as suffix please explain in detail

[Soup]

The suffix -ment is attached to verbs to make nouns. The suffix -ment traces back to the Latin noun suffix -mentum.

For example
The English noun fragment comes from the Latin noun fragmentum "a fragment, remnant," a combination of the verb frangere "to break" and the suffix -mentum. (Cf. the noun regiment comes from the Latin noun regimentum "rule, direction," from the verb regimen.)

Latin: frangere (verb) + -mentum (suffix) = fragmentum
Latin to English: fragmentum (a prodictive morpheme) became fragment (a fused morpheme).

Frag wasn't a verb in English until 1970:

Frag as a verb is first attested 1970 in U.S. military slang, from fragmentation grenade (1918).

The oddity about the fused morphemes fragment and regiment
Frag is a new verb (from the noun fragmentation), making fragment (a previously fused morpheme) appear productive:

Modern English: frag (verb) + -ment (suffix)
______________
§ 29. -ment. 8. Word Formation. The American Heritage Book of English Usage. 1996
Online Etymology Dictionary

[BobK]

I've nothing to add to Soup's answer, except with reference to the first line of your question. What may be regarded as problematic - I don't think it is, rather "interesting" - is the stress (which moves from the first syllable to the last as you move from the noun to the verb).

b

[Soup]

... the first line of your question. What may be regarded as problematic - I don't think it is, rather "interesting" - is the stress (which moves from the first syllable to the last as you move from the noun to the verb).

The Latin forms? (You've lost me... )

[BobK]

The Latin forms? (You've lost me... )

Nothing about Latin. Just /'frægmənt/ (noun) as opposed to /fræg'ment/ verb.
Perhaps this doesn't happen in Canada...?

b

[Soup]

Nothing about Latin. Just /'frægmənt/ (noun) as opposed to /fræg'ment/ verb.
Perhaps this doesn't happen in Canada...?

b

Oh, no, it does.

Sorry. My mind was somewhere else at the time--on the false analogical development here, regiment and fragment.

[BobK]

...
Frag wasn't a verb in English until 1970:

Frag as a verb is first attested 1970 in U.S. military slang, from fragmentation grenade (1918).

...

Incidentally, there's an even more recent coining [at least, I'd guess it is], presumably formed from this: defrag

defrag - definition of defrag by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

b

[Soup]

Yes, yes! That's an added bonus for Martin, the person who started this thread. Keen eye. Frag is a Modern English verb, unrelated to Latin frangere(v.), fragmentum (n.).

[matin]

Hi Soup Thanks alot for the help


martin

[BobK]

What is problematic in
1. regiment
2fragment

ment, as suffix please explain in detail

Aha - I get it (at last ). As Soup said, in fragment and regiment the -ment was already fused into the meaning-bearing unit when English borrowed the word from Latin. This makes the -ment different from the -ment suffix in words like "Atonement" (where atone never had anything to do directly* with Latin: Online Etymology Dictionary )

b
PS
* The only link with Latin was that it used English words (at and one) to imitate the structure of the Latin adunare.