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Postings from November 1999
Tom Christiansen <tchrist@jhereg.perl.com> writes: >>Could you please explain to a non-native the 'st' suffix meaning ? >[in "unbeknownst"] > >Hm... that's a good question. OED2 thinks so too: " unbe'knownst, a. or adv. Orig. colloq. and dial. Also unbeknowns, etc. [f. prec. The analogy on which the -s or -st has been added is not clear: cf. the earlier unknownst.] = unbeknown 2. Also, = unbeknown ppl. a. 1. Now of much wider currency than in the 19th. cent. " OED2 does have 'beknownst' but has beknow as obsolete. > >To my ear, the "-st" up in "unbeknownst" lends an certain air of erudition >(sometimes in the dusty and over-the-hill sense) to one's turn of phrase. Sounds like fake "Olde Englishe" to me ;-) -- Nick Ing-Simmons