[Lexicog] sub-morphemic particles??

[Allan Johnson]

Last Saturday, talking about how hot the sun had been when I went jogging
that afternoon, I said that the sun had "blared" at me the whole time. Then
thinking about what I had just said, I corrected myself - "no, I think the
word is "glared". But that slip-up made me wonder if there's some real
connection between the following words:

 

blare - for something (like a radio) to make a sound intense enough that you
want to plug your ears

glare - for something (like the sun) to emit light bright enough that you
need to squint or close your eyes

stare - for someone to look at you intently enough to make you feel
uncomfortable

 

They all seem to share the idea of an intensity that's too intense for
comfort. And they all share that a-r-e ending. What would you call that
piece of the word? Is it a morpheme? Or maybe something on a sub-morphemic
level?

 

It would be interesting to know if anything along these lines has been
researched. It might shed some light on things I've seen in Austronesian
languages - things which also sometimes seem to carry meaning on a level
below that of the morpheme.

 

Allan J.

 

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