One Step Now Education

August 16, 2024

profligately

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Last week, I had come across the word avuncular while reading a biography. I was familiar with the word but unsure of the meaning. While reading the same book, I came across this word profligately where I knew the meaning, but I started wondering about the base of the word. The other elements, the prefixes and suffixes, helped me to be able to pronounce the word. However, what is the base of the word profligately and what other words does it relate to that might help me recognize other words with the same base?

Meaning

What is this word’s meaning and how does the word function?

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The subject of the biography “spent profligately.” I know this means he spends money like crazy. The entry in the Collins Cobuild Dictionary tells me someone who is profligate “spends too much money or uses too much of something.” Why do my sons and my food pantry come to mind?

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How does this word function? Well, like avuncular, the word profligate is an adjective I could use to modify nouns. However, the word profligately has an additional suffix that we learn helps us identify adverbs, <-ly>. Not all words with <-ly> are adverbs, however. Think of adjectives like friendly and woolly.

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Adjectives modify nouns; adverbs modify everything else.

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They can modify verbs:

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She plays the piano masterfully. (Masterfully modifies how she plays.)

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Adverbs can modify adjectives.

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I have a really bad scratch on my arm. (really modifies how bad the scratch is.)

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Adverbs can modify other adverbs.

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My mother drives extremely slowly down the freeway. (extremely modifies how slowly which is modifying how she is driving.)

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Adverbs can modify entire sentences.

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Unfortunately, this section is done.

Structure

What are the elements that make up this word’s structure?

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If I can peel off the <-ly>, then what I have left is profligate. I know that <-ate> could be a suffix as well. And what about <pro>? That is certainly a prefix in words like professional and progress.

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pro + flig + ate + ly

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What is <flig>? We will have to find the history of this word to discover its root. Any etymological dictionary should help, but we will turn to Etymonline as our guide here. It appears that this word came to us in the 1520s. The entry says the definition then was “overthrown or conquered.” Meanings drift, and this one has certainly drifted in another direction.

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The entry tells us our word is from Latin profligatus, past participle of profligare. The words “past participle” tell me that this is from the fourth principal part of that verb. And I know that the form given here, profligare, is the infinitive form, the second principal part. English bases can come from the second and fourth principal parts of Latin verbs.

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There is more here though. The entry then goes on to say that profligare is from pro and fligere. This may look like a word sum, but it is not. However, I now have evidence that the <pro> in our word is its own element. Here this element has a sense of “down, forth.”

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If I remove the Latin infinitive suffix <-ere> from the Latin verb, I will then have my English base, <flig>. We may need to put in an <e> so our base doesn’t double with the addition of vowel suffixes.

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pro + flige/ + ate + ly

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The second paragraph of the entry tells us how the meaning may have drifted. It seems the modern sense developed around 1779. If you are “ruined in morals,” I suppose it compels you to “spend extravagantly.”

Relatives

What are the word’s relatives and history?

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Now, our base <flige> has an orthographic denotation of “strike.” Let’s see if this base exists in other English words. Words that share this base and root may join each other in a matrix. I can simply cut/paste fligere into the search engine of Etymonline. The results will be a list of entries containing references to that root. This does not mean all of these words will derive from that root. We will have to do a quick skim to ascertain the words that do.

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The first word that comes up is conflict. Now that word doesn’t have a base of <flige>, but not so fast. It does derive from a past participle form of confligere, which derives from fligere. The past participle, or fourth principal part, is conflictus. We remove that <-us> suffix to get our base <flict>.

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This base gives us its own matrix which includes our next two results, inflict and afflict. To that matrix, we can add affliction and inflected forms like conflicted and inflicting.

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The matrix for <flige>, though, is quite small. We might add profligacy. Both of these matrices can be included in one etymological circle. An etymological circle contains all words that are derived from a root, regardless of base.

Graphemes

What can the pronunciation of the word teach us about the relationships between its graphemes and its phonology?

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I teach my students that elements do not have a pronunciation until they are situated within a word. For me, the same element <pro–> has a different pronunciation in profligate than it does in produce or prolong. For this reason, we “spell out” elements when we refer to them in our lesson. When students slip and say, “the prefix [proʊ],” I just simply say, “the prefix <p>, <r>, <o>.” When spelling out a word with the prefix, the prefix would get one beat. Pro.c.ee.d.

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In an adjective, the suffix <–ate> is pronounced with a schwa. In a verb, it may be pronounced as [eɪt].

Next Steps

Where do I go next?

Adverbs do not always have to end with a suffix <-ly>. What adverbs can you and your students collect that do not.

Or perhaps you can collect words that end in <-ly> that aren’t adverbs.

The prefix <pro-> can often be confused with <pre–> or even <per–>. Perhaps a study of those elements and their differentiation might be useful.

Reply with your thoughts and questions about this week’s investigation. I’ll see you next week!

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Stay curious,

Brad

One Step Now Education

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