-erij

• -arij
• -ernij

From Old French -erie, a suffix forming abstract nouns. The suffix first occurs in loans from French, but became productive within Dutch. Similar to English -ery, Afrikaans -ery, German -erei, French -erie.

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-erij f (plural -erijen)

1. An activity

   plagerij (“tease”), vrijerij (“courtship”)

2. A place associated with an activity or profession

   brouwerij (“brewery”), mederij (“meadery”)

3. A place containing a collection, class or group

   boekerij (“library”)

Many cases of this suffix were probably formed by attaching -ij to agent nouns that already ended in -er, thereby forming a place associated with the agent noun. It may not always be easy to judge whether -erij was attached directly to a verb, or -ij was attached to an agent noun. For example, brouwerij (“brewery”) may be interpreted as a place (-erij) where brewing (brouwen) takes place, but equally as a place (-ij) associated with a brewer (brouwer). Both analyses are probably equally valid, synchronically.