The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language

The Frequentative Suffix

If a gem frequently sparks, we say that it sparkles. If a burning log frequently emits cracking noises, then it crackles. That’s because –le is a frequentative suffix.

With this in mind, let’s turn to grunting. To gruntle is to grunt often. If a pig makes one noise it has grunted, if it grunts again you may add the frequentative suffix and call the pig a gruntler. A medieval travel writer called Sir John Mandeville[19] described the men who live in the desert near the Garden of Eden thus:

But the dis in disgruntled is not a negative prefix but an intensive one. If the verb already carries negative connotations (and something that makes you keep grunting is probably no good), then the negative dis just emphasises how bad it is. Disgruntled therefore means almost the same thing as gruntled.

Some frequentatives are a little more surprising. The next time you are being jostled in a crowd, you may reflect that your fate is rather milder than somebody who is repeatedly being attacked by a jousting knight. Medieval lovers used to fond each other, and if they did this too often, they began to fondle. Fondling is a dangerous business, as sooner or later it leads to snugging, an archaic word that meant to lie down together in order to keep warm. Repeated incidences of snugging will result in snuggling, and pregnancy.

Whether you trample, tootle, wrestle or fizzle, you are being frequentative. So here’s a little puzzle (a puzzle being a question that is frequently posed). What are the originals of these frequentatives?

Nuzzle

Bustle

Waddle

Straddle

Swaddle[20]

Of course, the reason that you can’t get all those immediately is that a frequentative often leaves home and starts to be a word in its own right. Take the Latin pensare, which meant to think and from which we get the words pensive and pansy (a flower given to a loved one to make them think of you). The Romans thought that thinking was nothing more than repeatedly weighing things up. So pensare is a frequentative of pendere, to weigh or hang, from which we get more words than you might think.