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School worksheet on suffixes WRONG!?

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Wilmar 1 | 20:11 Mon 26th Sep 2005 | Arts & Literature
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Primary school worksheet lists magic, picnic, music and logic as words that contain the letters "ic" as a suffix. Where can I find a definition that proves this to be wrong because "ic" does not adjust the meaning of the root words mag / pic / mus / log!!!!!
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Any dictionary should confirm your notion.  The on-line dictionary here ( http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=suffix ) gives the definition:

Suffix
An affix added to the end of a word or stem, serving to form a new word or functioning as an inflectional ending, such as -ness in gentleness, -ing in walking, or -s in sits

You therfore have to start off with an existing word or word stem, and as you state, those words don't, they just happen to end in the same letters.

Possibly the list-maker was working on the - not totally sustainable - basis that 'magic' relates to the art of the 'magus' (magician, in effect) and 'music' relates to the appropriate 'muse' of ancient Greek mythology. So, the 'ic' in magic may have been seen as meaning 'of the magus' and the 'ic' in music as 'of the muse'.
There is no way, however, that he/she could hope to get away with 'picnic' as having a suffix!

But don't you remember the 50's song:

"Pic'n a chick'n with me"??

Sung by a South African lady whose name now escapes me

Various artistes sang the 'Chicken' song, Tony, but the best-known version was by Eve Boswell. However, she was born in Budapest, though she did die in South Africa.

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