Why do so many English words end with the long 'e' sound? Is that characteristic shared with any other languages?
happy, crappy, wooly, buttery, fluffy
<<Why do so many English words end with the long 'e' sound?>>
That's because the suffix -y is very versatile and can easily be tacked on to nouns to turn them into adjectives: hap > happy; crap > crappy; wool > wooly; butter > buttery; fluff > fluffy
In the instances above, the -y is used to mean "characterized by, consisting of, resembling, to some degree, or tending towards". This comes from Old English -ig (eadig, gesælig, sælig, etc.)
Another use of -y is to describe a condition, state, quality, activity, or place of activity or business (jealousy, envy, treaty, laundry, etc.), which comes from Greek and Latin -ia by way of Old French -ie, -e, or -ée.
Then you have the diminutives of nouns and proper nouns ending in -y or -ie (Johnny, Teddy, Vicky, sweetie, dearie, etc.) which may have been introduced into English from Scottish (laddie, lassie, bonnie, etc.)
And then there's the -ary suffix (primary, secondary, legendary) which comes from Latin -arius, via Middle French -aire and Middle English -arie; and -ly, from ME -li, OE -lice or -lic, Old Norse -liga.
That's because the suffix -y is very versatile and can easily be tacked on to nouns to turn them into adjectives: hap > happy; crap > crappy; wool > wooly; butter > buttery; fluff > fluffy
In the instances above, the -y is used to mean "characterized by, consisting of, resembling, to some degree, or tending towards". This comes from Old English -ig (eadig, gesælig, sælig, etc.)
Another use of -y is to describe a condition, state, quality, activity, or place of activity or business (jealousy, envy, treaty, laundry, etc.), which comes from Greek and Latin -ia by way of Old French -ie, -e, or -ée.
Then you have the diminutives of nouns and proper nouns ending in -y or -ie (Johnny, Teddy, Vicky, sweetie, dearie, etc.) which may have been introduced into English from Scottish (laddie, lassie, bonnie, etc.)
And then there's the -ary suffix (primary, secondary, legendary) which comes from Latin -arius, via Middle French -aire and Middle English -arie; and -ly, from ME -li, OE -lice or -lic, Old Norse -liga.