It’s easy to blame the Americans, but sometimes — as the courts ruled in Perugia last week — they’re innocent. The case brought to mind another instance of injustice meted out to our transatlantic cousins, all in the name of that most exacting of mistresses: grammar. Of the many linguistic crimes we’ve accused them of committing, the most awful is the genocide of the suffix “ise”. We tut over spell-check, remark on the aesthetic superiority of that line of beauty — the curve of an “S” — and stand aghast at the cheek of attempting to deface their mother tongue. Replace the elegant slip of an “ise” with a clunky utilitarian “ize”?!
But we got it wrong.
When it comes to the choice between ‘S’ and ‘Z’, it might be a good time to digress and celebrate the re-launch of the TLS blog. One month in, the decision to get the editorial team on one ship of state has made for smooth sailing. So far the cargo has been precious: Peter Stothard’s reflections on Sheryl Crowe; the connection between Honoré de Balzac and Michael Jackson’s 1992 tour of Africa and the bias revealed in the Spaniards’ answer to The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. But let’s navigate our way back to the issue at hand. The TLS, in contrast to its more relaxed, more populist cousin, The Times (and indeed The Spectator too), has steadfastly clung to the suffix ‘ize’ despite prevailing wind.
Hang on. I told you we got it wrong. A consultation of the OED makes it quite clear. Words, that were Greek in origin, originally finished with the suffix ‘ιζειν’ and were latinized using ‘ize’. Thus baptize, organize, evangelize are all etymologically sound. The ‘Z’ was also used to turn Latin adjectives into verbs and that’s how the noun citizen, ‘civis’, becomes ‘civilizare’ or to civilize. The confusion originates with the French, where they use a ‘S’ (civilize becomes ‘civiliser’) but, as we shy away from it normally, there is little reason why we should ape the French linguistically. So, in terms of what is etymologically and phonetically correct, and given that the suffix — whatever it might be added to — is originally ‘ιζειν’, then in English ‘Z’ is the only option.
A word of warning, if you’re going to opt for the authentic suffix, life will be tough: a succession of appeals, justifications and solitary confinement. It might be best to take Kingsely Amis’ sage advice in The King’s English on board and focus on the more shocking ways language is butchered: “much ink has been spilt in the past … but keep your eye out for some horrible coinages like tenderize … and deratise – to rid (a building etc.) of rats. The latter is as genuine a specimen as the former; indeed I once saw deraterisation in print”.
Fleur Macdonald is editor of The Omnivore.
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