A suffix used to form abstract nouns expressing state, degree, or condition: metallicity,
luminosity, periodicity, Gaussianity.
Etymology (EN): From M.E. -ite, from O.Fr. -ité, from L. -itas (-itat-), from
-i- (thematic or, rarely, connective vowel) + -tas (-tat-),
may be cognate with Av./Skt. -tāt (as in Av. uparatāt,
Skt. uparátāt “supremacy,” Av. haurvatāt,
Skt. sarvátāt “completeness”).
Etymology (PE): The suffix -igi, from -ig adj. suffix, variant of -ik,
→ -ic, + -i noun suffix.
Note: The Pers. suffix -i forms state/condition nouns from adjectives, as in:
xubi, zešti, râsti, âzâdi, tanhâyi. There is though a phonetic problem
when the adj. ends in -i, since two successive i’s are not
easily articulable, e.g.: felez “metal,” felezi “metallic,” *felezii
“metallicity.” Mid.Pers. did not have this problem, since the adj. suffix
was -îg or -îk
(instead of -i) and the noun suffix -îh (instead of -i). Some examples
in Mid.Pers.:
tuhîg “empty,” tuhîgîh “emptiness,” tuwânîg “able,”
tuwânîgîh “ability,” spurrîg “complete,” spurrîgîh
“completeness, perfection,” nazdîk “near,” nazdîkîh “proximity.”
A way out of this phonetic problem is to use the Mid.Pers. -igi.
This solution, first introduced in the case of tohi, tohigi
(→ void), was generalized by
M. Sch. Adib-Soltâni (Irânigi, Âlmânigi, darunâxtigi, borunâxtigi, etc.).
This seems a natural solution
since the adj. suffix -i is the evolution of the Mid.Pers. -ig, and
moreover Pers. currently revives the g phoneme in comparable phonetic situations,
as in the ending phoneme -é (-eh), which derives from Mid.Pers. -ag.
A number of examples: adj. âzâdé, n. âzâdegi; adj. tâbandé, n.
tâbandegi; adj. mardâné, n. mardânegi; likewise xâné, xânegi,
setâré, setâregân; âzâdé, âzâdegân.
Interestingly, the -igi suffix has this specified function in some dialects,
for example (Tajik, Šahrezâ-yi) xâligi “emptiness,” from xâli.
Some examples for the use of -igi in this work:
felezigi, → metallicity;
mâddigi, → materiality; beyzigi,
→ ellipcity, tâštigi,
→ certainty, etc.
