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-logy
-logy is a suffix in English, found in words originally adapted from Greek words ending in ''-λογία'' (''-logia''). The earliest English examples were anglicizations of the French ''-logie'', which was in turn inherited from the Latin ''-logia''.
It has two main senses in English:
*a combining form used in the names of sciences or bodies of knowledge (e.g. ''theology'' or ''sociology'')
*an ending of nouns that refer to kinds of speech, writing or collections of writing (e.g. ''eulogy'' or ''trilogy'')
Etymology
In words of the type ''theology'', the suffix is derived originally from (''-log-'') (a variant of , ''-leg-''), from the Greek verb (''legein'', "to speak"). The suffix has the sense of "the character or department of one who speaks or treats of [a certain subject]", or more succinctly, "the study of [a certain subject]".
In words of the type ''trilogy'', the suffix is derived originally from the Greek noun (''logos'', "speech"). The suffix has the sense of "[a certain kind of] speaking or writing".
-logy versus -ology
In English names for fields of study, the suffix ''-logy'' is most frequently found preceded by the vowel ''o'' so the word ends in ''-ology''. In traditional English grammar, the ''-o-'' in ''-ology'' is considered part of the suffix ''-logy''. This is because the ''-o-'' is not part of the suffix in the original Greek names for fields of study: In these Greek words, the root is always a noun and ''-o-'' is the combining vowel for all declensions of Greek nouns. However, when new names for fields of study have been coined in modern English, the formations ending in ''-logy'' almost invariably follow the Greek model by adding an ''-o-'', even though there is no grammatical necessity in English. There are at least [http://words-ending-in-ogy.wordover.com/e/ 22] exceptions: ''analogy'', ''dekalogy'', ''disanalogy'', ''genealogy'', ''genethlialogy'', ''herbalogy'' (a variant of ''herbology''), ''[http://www.onelook.com/?w=idealogy&ls=a idealogy]'', ''mammalogy'', ''mineralogy'', ''paralogy'', ''[http://www.onelook.com/?w=pentalogy&ls=a pentalogy]'', ''petralogy'' (a variant of ''petrology''), ''tetralogy''; ''[http://dictionary.die.net/elogy elogy]''; ''antilogy'', ''[http://www.onelook.com/?w=festilogy&ls=a festilogy]'', ''trilogy''; ''[http://www.onelook.com/?w=palillogy&ls=a palillogy]'', ''[http://www.onelook.com/?w=pyroballogy&ls=a pyroballogy]''; ''[http://www.onelook.com/?w=dyslogy&ls=a dyslogy]''; ''eulogy''; and ''brachylogy''.Linguists sometimes jokingly refer to haplology as ''haplogy'' (subjecting the word ''haplology'' to haplology).
Additional usage as a suffix
Per metonymy, words ending in ''-logy'' are sometimes used to describe a subject rather than the study of it (e.g. ''technology''). This usage is particularly widespread in medicine; for example, ''pathology'' is often used simply to refer to "the study of a disease" but to refer to "the disease" itself (e.g. "We haven't found the pathology yet").
Books, journals and treatises about a subject also often bear the name of this subject (e. g. Ecology (journal)).
When appended to other English words, the suffix can also be used humorously to create nonce words (e.g. ''beerology'' as "the study of beer", ''Wikiology'' as "the study of Wikipedia"). As with other classical compounds, adding the suffix to a initial word-stem derived from Greek or Latin may be used to lend grandeur or the impression of scientific rigor to humble pursuits, as in ''cosmetology'' ("the study of beauty treatment") or ''cynology'' ("the study of dog training").
Additional usage as a substantive
When used as a proper noun, ''Ology'' can refer to a particular series of fantasy books and fictional encyclopedias. These currently include ''Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons'', ''Egyptology: Search for the Tomb of Osiris'', ''Wizardology: The Book of the Secrets of Merlin'', ''Pirateology: A Pirate Hunter's Companion'', and ''Mythology: Greek Gods, Heroes, & Monsters''.
Source: Wikipedia