FromMiddle English-linges, variant (with genitive-es) ofMiddle English-ling(adverbial suffix), equivalent to-ling +-s. CompareDutch-lings(adverbial suffix),German-lings.
-lings
- (now UK dialectal)forming adverbs, generally of condition or situation
The suffix is a combination of the suffix-ling and the adverb-forming-s.
-lings
- describes a manner in which an action proceeds as defined by root to which it is added, both as adverb and as adjective
- Hij dookzijdelings weg. ―He ducked awaysideways.
FromMiddle High German-lingen, fromOld High Germanlingūn. The modern form with-s is ofCentral andLow German origin; compareMiddle Low German-linges.
-lings
- (rare, little productive)forms adverbs that describe the manner of an action, particularly a movement
- Bauch(“abdomen, belly”) + -lings → bäuchlings(“on one’s belly”)
- blind(“blind”) + -lings → blindlings(“blindly, hastily, pell-mell”)
- Ritt(“ride”) + -lings → rittlings(“astride, sitting on something like on a mount”)
- Rücken(“back”) + -lings → rücklings(“on one’s back”)
- Seite(“side”) + -lings → seitlings(“sideways”)
- The suffix was common and productive into early modern German. Most adverbs with it, apart from the five named above, are now archaic.
-lings
- indefinitegenitivesingular of-lingur
