suffix of adjs. and sbs., ad. L. -āri-us, -āri-um. The regular phonetic repr. of these in OF. was -air, but most of the words that actually lived on into OF. had -ier (app. by confusion with words in -iārium or -erium, of which -ier was the regular repr.), in AFr. -er, instances of which still remain in Eng. primer, danger, antiphoner, and names of trades and offices, like carpenter, usher (Fr. huissier, L. ostiārius), while others, as bursar, calendar, mortar, vicar, have recently been refashioned with -ar after Latin. But in words of later learned adaptation in Fr., -ārius, -um were represented by -aire; in AFr. and ME. -arie, later -arye, now -ary, as L. contrārius, Fr. contraire, Eng. contrarie, contrarye, now contrary; and this is the regular form in which L. words in -ārius, -arium, or their Fr. representatives in -aire are now adapted in Eng., and on which new analogical formations are modelled. More than 300 such exist in the language, comprising:—
A. adjs. repr. (or on analogy of) L. -ārius ‘connected with, pertaining to’; as arbitrary, contrary, elementary, honorary, mercenary, necessary, primary, secondary, tertiary, voluntary.
B. sbs. 1. repr. (or on analogy of) L. -ārius ‘a man (or male) belonging to or engaged in’; as actuary, adversary, antiquary, apothecary, commentary (liber), February, January (mensis), lapidary, secretary.
2. repr. (or on analogy of) L. -ārium ‘a thing connected with or employed in, a place for’; as aviary, breviary, diary, dictionary, formulary, glossary, granary, ovary, piscary, reliquary, salary, sanctuary, vocabulary. See also -ARIUM.
3. repr. L. (often mediæval) -āria (Fr. -aire, -arie), forming fem. sbs. with same sense; as Calvary, fritillary.
