Our headline says we're over the hill...of summer - yes, we're into the dales.
I got to wondering about words that end in 'ship' - I was reading about hardship. We who live in North America have the greatest prevalence of a soft life, but it isn't referred to as softship. So what does 'ship' indicate?
hard·ship ˈhärdˌship/ noun
severe suffering or privation. "intolerable levels of hardship"
privation, deprivation, destitution, poverty, austerity, penury, want, need, neediness, impecuniousness;
-ship
suffix 1. indicating state or condition: fellowship 2. indicating rank, office, or position: lordship 3. indicating craft or skill: horsemanship,workmanship, scholarship
Middle English, Old English -scipe; akin to shape; cognate with dialectal Frisian, dialectal Dutch schip
