-ensis

See also: ensis and Ensis

Latin

Unknown. Various theories have been put forward:

Hermann Gähwiler (1962), building on a suggestion by Manu Leumann, proposes a borrowing from Etruscan on the basis that its earliest attested non-toponymic use is in the term ātriēnsis, and the Roman ātrium was an Etruscan import.^[1] A similar suffix is attested in Etruscan patronymics.^[2]
Paavo Castrén (1981) rejects the relevance of ātriēnsis, viewing it as a later development. On the basis of various ancient, then-extinct peoples of Latium with names in -ēnsēs mentioned by Pliny the Elder, Castrén situates the emergence of the suffix in the late Proto-Villanovan period, perhaps as a borrowing from another Italic language.^[3]
Chantal Kircher-Durand (1983) suggests a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *-went -ti (< *-wénts, *-tis),^[4] but considers Gähwiler’s thesis plausible.^[2]
A. Zimmermann (1921) suggests a lost cognate of Ancient Greek ἐνς (ens), variant of εἰς (eis) (< Proto-Indo-European *h₁én) + -ī.^[2]

-ēnsis (neuter -ēnse); third-declension two-termination suffix

The suffix -ēnsis is added to a toponym (especially the name of a town) or to a topographical name, in order to form an adjective.

Examples:

‎Eborācum (“York”) + ‎-ēnsis → ‎eborācēnsis (“of or from York”)

‎castra (“camp”) + ‎-ēnsis → ‎castrēnsis (“of the camp”)

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

	masc./fem.	neuter	masc./fem.	neuter
	singular		plural
nominative	-ēnsis	-ēnse	-ēnsēs	-ēnsia
genitive	-ēnsis		-ēnsium
dative	-ēnsī		-ēnsibus
accusative	-ēnsem	-ēnse	-ēnsēs -ēnsīs	-ēnsia
ablative	-ēnsī		-ēnsibus
vocative	-ēnsis	-ēnse	-ēnsēs	-ēnsia

→ Albanian: -esh
Catalan: -ès, (Valencian) -és
Franco-Provençal: -ês
Galician: -és
→ Galician: -ense
Italian: -ese
→ Italian: -ense
Occitan: -és
Piedmontese: -èis
Ligurian: -èise
Old French: -eis
- → English: -ese
- French: -ais, -ois
  - → Romanian: -ez
- Norman: -ais, -ouais
Portuguese: -ês
→ Portuguese: -ense
Sicilian: -isi, -isa
Spanish: -és
→ Spanish: -ense
Welsh: -wys

^ Gähwiler, Hermann (1962) Das lateinische Suffix -ensis (in German), pages 84–85
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Kircher-Durand, Chantal (2002) “Les dérivés en -ensis”, in Chantal Kircher-Durand, editor, Grammaire fondamentale du latin (in French), volume 9, Création lexicale: la formation des noms par dérivation suffixale, page 191
^ Castrén, Paavo (1981) “Von populi Albenses bis cives Campanienses. Anmerkungen zur Frühgeschichte des lateinischen Suffixes -ensis”, in Arctos: Acta Philologica Fennica‎^[1] (in German), volume 15, pages 9–12
^ Kircher-Durand, Chantal (1983) “Les noms latins en -ensis”, in Documents LAMA (in French), volume 8, Centre de recherches comparatives sur les langues de la Méditerranée ancienne, pages 248–51