*SET-U

CANONICAL LANGUAGE GRAPH

TRACE A WORD ↗
NODE / 0639attestedPresent-Day English

-al

TRANSLITERATION -al

of, like, related to, or pertaining to

DATE
Middle English–today
SENSE
adjective suffix
FAMILY
Indo-European / Germanic
CANONICAL KEY
node:1:-al:attested:sense:adjective-suffix

Productive English adjective suffix; Etymonline reports French and direct Latin channels.

01

ANCESTRAL EDGES

ROOT OF THIS ROOT

2
GO DEEPERborrowingprobable
Old French · Old French period · adjective suffix

-al

adjective-forming suffix

SOUND
Middle English receives the suffix through French formations.
MEANING
The adjective-forming function remains stable.
CHRONOLOGY
Middle English onward.
SCHOLAR
Douglas Harper
CONFIDENCE
probable — The source also allows direct Latin formation.
-al — Online Etymology DictionarysupportsMiddle English from French or directly from Latin -alis

Supplies the French channel.

ORIGINAL ↗
OPEN CANONICAL EDGE 609 ↗
GO DEEPERcompeting borrowingproposed
Latin · Latin antiquity · adjective suffix

-ālis

of, related to, pertaining to

SOUND
English also forms learned words directly on Latin -alis.
MEANING
The adjective-forming function remains stable.
SCHOLAR
Douglas Harper
CONFIDENCE
proposed — This is a parallel direct-Latin channel, not a claim that every -al word bypassed French.
-al — Online Etymology DictionarysupportsMiddle English from French or directly from Latin -alis

Supplies the direct Latin channel.

ORIGINAL ↗
OPEN CANONICAL EDGE 610 ↗
02

DIRECT DESCENDANT EDGES

THE NEXT HISTORICAL STEP

1
DESCENDANTderivational componentestablished
Present-Day English · 1588–today · etymology related adjective

etymological

of, relating to, or based on etymology

SOUND
The English adjective ends in productive -al under Merriam-Webster’s segmentation.
MEANING
The suffix marks relation or pertinence.
CHRONOLOGY
The component is synchronic and historical evidence, not the lexical parent of etymology.
SCHOLAR
Merriam-Webster Editors
CONFIDENCE
established
Etymological — Merriam-Webster.com DictionarysupportsWord History: etymologic + -al

Explicitly identifies the English -al component.

ORIGINAL ↗
OPEN CANONICAL EDGE 608 ↗
03

TRANSITIVE DESCENDANT CLOSURE

EVERY REVIEWED BRANCH FROM HERE

1

This is the complete downstream closure currently supported by the canonical graph. Every displayed step is a real reviewed edge with its own sound claim, meaning claim, scholar, confidence, and citations.

UNIQUE DESCENDANT NODES
1
REVIEWED EDGES
1
DEEPEST PATH
1
MODERN DOSSIERS REACHED
1
etymological1 connected node
HISTORICAL STEP 011 EDGE

“Every” means every descendant in the reviewed SET-U graph. It does not convert missing scholarship or missing ingestion into a claim of historical completeness. The coverage ledger remains the honest denominator.

04

RECORDED EVIDENCE

ATTESTATIONS / FIRST KNOWN USE

0
NO RECORDED WITNESS ATTACHED.

The reviewed graph does not yet attach a source-reported or directly inspected witness to this canonical form.

05

EDITORIAL REUSE

WORD DOSSIERS USING THIS NODE

0