-acy

suffix forming nouns of state or quality (accuracy; piracy; supremacy), or an instance of it (conspiracy; fallacy) (see also -CRACY).
Etymology: a branch of the suffix -CY from or after F -acie or L -acia or -atia or Gk -ateia

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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.

[ < L -acia, -atia (sp. interchangeably in ML, reflecting the Rom merger of the forms); these are in turn complexes of -ac- and -at- -ATE¹ + -ia -Y³. Compare -CRACY]

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suffix forming nouns of state or quality

celibacy | lunacy

Origin:

a branch of the suffix -cy, from Latin -atia (medieval Latin -acia), or from Greek -ateia, noun suffixes

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-acy [-acy] ;

» ↑-cy

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-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 -acy f. -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.