View source for -logy

{{Short description|English language suffix}}
{{hatnote|"Logy", "Ology", and "Ologies" redirect here. For other uses, see [[Logy (disambiguation)]] and [[Ology (disambiguation)]].}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
'''''-logy''''' is a [[suffix]] in the English language, used with words originally adapted from [[Ancient Greek]] ending in {{wikt-lang|grc|-λογία}} (''{{grc-transl|-λογία}}'').<ref>List of ancient Greek words ending in [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/resolveform?type=end&lookup=logia&lang=greek -λογία] on [[Perseus Project|Perseus]]</ref> The earliest English examples were anglicizations of the French ''[[wiktionary:-logie|-logie]]'', which was in turn inherited from the [[Latin language|Latin]] ''[[wiktionary:-logia|-logia]]''.<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/-logy "-logy." ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'', Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. retrieved 20 Aug. 2008.]</ref>
The suffix became productive in English from the 18th century, allowing the formation of new terms with no Latin or Greek precedent.
The English suffix has two separate main senses, reflecting two sources of the {{lang|grc|-λογία}} suffix in Greek:<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/-logy "-logy." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. retrieved 20 Aug. 2008.]</ref>
*a combining form used in the names of school or bodies of knowledge, e.g., ''[[theology]]'' (loaned from Latin in the [[14th-century English|14th century]]) or ''[[sociology]]''. In words of the type ''[[theology]]'', the suffix is derived originally from {{lang|grc|-λογ-}} (''-log-'') (a variant of {{lang|grc|-λεγ-}}, ''-leg-''), from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] verb {{lang|grc|λέγειν}} (''legein'', 'to speak').<ref name="English Etymology 1986">"-logy." ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology''. Oxford University Press, 1986. retrieved 20 August 2008.</ref> The suffix has the sense of "the character or deportment of one who speaks or treats of [a certain subject]", or more succinctly, "the study of [a certain subject]".<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=-logy&searchmode=none "-logy." ''Online Etymology Dictionary''. retrieved 20 Aug. 2008]</ref> (The Ancient Greek noun {{lang|grc|λόγος}} ''{{transliteration|grc|ISO|lógos}}'' mentioned below can also be translated, among other things, as "subject matter".<ref name="LSJ">{{cite web|last1=Liddell|first1=Henry George|last2=Scott|first2=Robert|title=A Greek–English Lexicon|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=lo/gos|website=Perseus Project|publisher=Tufts University|access-date=8 February 2016}}</ref>)
*the root word nouns that refer to kinds of speech, writing or collections of writing, e.g., ''[[eulogy]]'' or ''[[trilogy]]''. In words of this type, the "-logy" element is derived from the Greek noun {{lang|grc|λόγος}} (''[[logos]]'', 'speech', 'account', 'story').<ref name="English Etymology 1986"/> The suffix has the sense of "[a certain kind of] speaking or writing".<ref name="The Oxford English Dictionary 1989">"-logy." ''The Oxford English Dictionary'', Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 1989. retrieved 20 August 2008.</ref>
[[Philology]] is an exception: while its meaning is closer to the first sense, the etymology of the word is similar to the second sense.<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=philology "Philology." ''Online Etymology Dictionary''. retrieved 14 Jul. 2011]</ref>
==-logy versus -ology==
In English names for fields of study, the suffix ''-logy'' is most frequently found preceded by the euphonic connective vowel ''o'' so that the word ends in ''-ology''.<ref>Eric Partridge, ''Origins'', 2nd edition, New York, Macmillan, 1959</ref> In these Greek words, the [[root (linguistics)|root]] is always a noun and ''-o-'' is the [[thematic vowel|combining vowel]] for all declensions of Greek nouns. However, when new names for fields of study are coined in modern English, the formations ending in ''-logy'' almost always add an ''-o-'', except when the root word ends in an "l" or a vowel, as in these exceptions:<ref>[http://words-ending-in-ogy.wordover.com/e/ Words Ending In ogy : Words Ending With ogy<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ''[[analogy]]'', ''dekalogy'', ''disanalogy'', ''[[genealogy]]'', ''[[genethlialogy]]'', ''[[hexalogy]]''; ''herbalogy'' (a variant of ''[[herbology]]''), ''[[mammalogy]]'', ''[[mineralogy]]'', ''[[paralogy]]'', ''petralogy'' (a variant of ''[[petrology]]''); ''[[wikt:elogy|elogy]]''; [[wikt:heptalogy|heptalogy]]; ''[[antilogy]]'', ''[[wikt:festilogy|festilogy]]''; ''[[trilogy]]'', ''[[tetralogy]]'', ''[[wikt:pentalogy|pentalogy]]''; ''[[wikt:palillogy|palillogy]]'', ''[[wikt:pyroballogy|pyroballogy]]''; ''[[wikt:dyslogy|dyslogy]]''; ''[[eulogy]]''; and ''[[brachylogy]]''.<ref name="The Oxford English Dictionary 1989"/> Linguists sometimes jokingly refer to [[haplology]] as ''haplogy'' (subjecting the word ''haplology'' to the process of haplology itself).
==Additional usage as a suffix==
Per [[metonymy]], words ending in ''-logy'' are sometimes used to describe a subject rather than the study of it (e.g., ''[[technology]]''). This usage is particularly widespread in medicine; for example, ''[[pathology]]'' is often used simply to refer to "the disease" itself (e.g., "We haven't found the pathology yet") rather than "the study of a disease".
Books, journals, and treatises about a subject also often bear the name of this subject (e.g., the scientific journal ''[[Ecology (journal)|Ecology]]'').
When appended to other English words, the suffix can also be used humorously to create [[nonce word]]s (e.g., ''[[beer]]ology'' as "the study of beer"). As with other [[classical compound]]s, adding the suffix to an initial word-stem derived from Greek or [[Latin language|Latin]] may be used to lend grandeur or the impression of scientific rigor to humble pursuits, as in ''cosmetology'' ("the study of beauty treatment") or ''cynology'' ("the study of dog training").
==Compound series of works of art==
The -logy or -ology suffix is commonly used to indicate finite series of art works like books or movies. For paintings, the "tych" suffix is more common (e.g. [[diptych]], [[triptych]]). Examples include:
*[[Trilogy]] for three works
*[[Tetralogy]] for four works
*[[Pentalogy]] for five works
*[[Hexalogy]] for six works
*[[Heptalogy]] for seven works
Further terms like duology (two, mostly in [[genre fiction]]) quadrilogy (four) and octalogy (eight) have been coined but are rarely used: for a series of 10, sometimes "decalog" is used (e.g. in the [[Virgin Decalog]]) instead of "decalogy".
==See also==
*[[List of words ending in ology]]
*[[Classical compound]]
*[[Suffixes]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{Wiktionary|-logy|logy}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091022210752/http://geocities.com/tvtranscripts/comm/comphone.htm The famous British "ology" advertisement]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110517000312/http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/gswithenbank/ologies.htm Ologies] (a long list of fields of study, and a paragraph of exceptions at the bottom of the page)
*[http://www.affixes.org/l/-logy.html Affixes: -logy]
*[http://ologywords.blogspot.in/ Ology Words] It provides list of A–Z English words ending with the suffix -ology and their field of study
*[http://www.faqs.org/ologies-isms/ Ologies and Isms]
*[http://www.fisicx.com/quickreference/science/ologies.html Ologies and Graphys]
*[[Wikiversity:Ologies|Ologies – Wikiversity]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:-Logy}}
[[Category:Suffixes of Greek origin|Logy]]
[[Category:English suffixes|Logy]]