a suffix of nouns of quality, state, office, etc., many of which accompany adjectives in -acious or nouns or adjectives in -ate: fallacy; papacy; legacy; delicacy; piracy.
Origin
< Latin-ācia, -ātia (spelling interchangeably in Medieval Latin, reflecting the Rom merger of the forms); these are in turn complexes of -āc- and -āt- -ate1 + -ia -y3. Cf. -cracy
Related Words
accuracy
adequacy
advocacy
archiepiscopacy
complicacy
confederacy
-acya suffix of nouns of quality, state, office, etc., many of which accompany adjectives in -acious or nouns or adjectives in -ate, as in efficacy, fallacy, etc., advocacy, primacy, etc., accuracy, delicacy, etc.
[representing Latin -ācia, -ātia, and Greek -ateia]
-acy
/əsɪ/
suffix
forming nouns of state or quality
［构成名词］表示“状态”, “性质”：
celibacy
lunacy.
词源
variant of -CY, from Latin -atia （medieval Latin -acia）， or from Greek -ateia.
-acy, suffix of ns.[a branch of the wider suffix -cy, a virtual compound of -y, ME.-ye, -ie, Fr.-ie, L. -ia, with preceding t or c, though the L. was rather -ci + a, -ti + a, than -c + ia, -t + ia.]1.ad. L. -āci-a, forming ns. of quality on adjs. in -āci-, as fall- deceive, fall-āci- deceitful, fallāci-a deceitfulness, ‘fallacy’; so ‘contumacy, efficacy.’ The corresponding Fr. words are in -ace; -acy is entirely of Eng. formation, analogous to other endings in -y, for L. -ia; cf. -nce and -ncy. A parallel suffix is the more frequent -aci-ty, as in rapacity; and an equivalent to both -acious-ness, as in rapaciousness, fallaciousness.2. representing or imitating L. -āt-i-a, in med.L. often written -ācia, OFr.-acie, forming ns. of quality, state, or condition, on nouns in -āt- (nom.-ās), being only a section of the ns. in -tia from nouns in -t-, -ti-, in which the suffix was properly -a, and the i either part of the stem or connective, cf.inerti-a, infant(i-a, mīlit-i-a. Thus: late L. abbāt-, abbāt-ia ‘abbacy’, L. prīmāt-, med.L. prīmātia, Fr.primatie, ‘primacy’; L. optimāt-, Fr.optimatie, ‘optimacy’; L. diplōmat-, Fr.diplomatie, ‘diplomacy’; late L. pāpāt- (nom.pāpās=pāpa) Anglo-L.pāpātia (=pāpātus) ‘papacy.’ Imitation of primacy has given ‘supremacy,’ Fr.suprématie.3.repr.med.L. -ātia, forming ns. of state on nouns in -āt-us; cf.cl. L. -tia from -tus, in grāt-ia, minūt-ia, molest-ia, etc. Thus, (perhaps due in part to form-association with abbātia, prīmātia, pāpātia,) med.L. advocātia, prælātia, lēgātia, ‘advocacy, prelacy, legacy,’ f.advocātus, prælāt-us, legāt-us; whence without any L. precedent, ‘curacy, confederacy, magistracy,’ on other words in L. -ātus or Eng.-ate. Also extended to adjs., as accurate, alternate, whence ‘accuracy, alternacy’ = accurate-ness, alternate-ness. So ‘degeneracy, delicacy, effeminacy, intimacy, intricacy, inveteracy, legitimacy, obstinacy, privacy, profligacy, subordinacy,’ etc. The cl. L. forms answering to these, when f.pples., were in -ātiō(nem), as accūrātio, obstinātio, prælātio, lēgātio: hence -ātio has been englished as -acy in other words where no Eng.-ate exists, as conspīrātio, procūrātio ‘conspiracy, procuracy.’ Of others the proper L. form was -ātus (4th decl.) as pāpātus, magistrātus: hence in other words this has given Eng.-acy, as episcopātus, cælibātus, ‘episcopacy, celibacy.’ Lunacy has been formed to match lunatic, after the relation of prelacy, diplomacy, to prelatic, diplomatic. It thus appears that -acyf.-ātus, -ate, is almost entirely analogical and of Eng. formation.4.repr.Gr.ns. of state in -άτεια, f. nouns in -ατης, or vbs. in -ατεύειν; as πειρᾱτής, L. pīrāta, pirate, πειρατεύ-ειν to pirate, πειράτεια, Anglo-L.pīrātīa, ‘piracy,’ identified with L. forms like legātĭa ‘legacy’ above. Also in -cracy, Gr.ns. in -κρατία, L. -cratia, Fr.-cratie, as ‘aristocracy’; see -cracy.
☞ -acy, -cy
-acy/əsi/suffix.
ORIGIN: A branch of -cy.
Forming nouns of quality, state, or condition.
1.Repr. Latin -acia, from adjectives in -aci-, -ax, as fallacy.
2.Repr. Latin -atia (medieval Latin often -acia), from nouns in -at-, -as, as abbacy, primacy; similarly supremacy.
3.Repr. medieval Latin -atia, from nouns in -atus, as advocacy, prelacy; hence from nouns in -ate1, as confederacy, and adjectives in -ate2, as accuracy, obstinacy.
4.Repr. Greek nouns in -ateia, as piracy. See also -cracy.