>indicates to me that -ness is exactly the correct translation of Mannigfaltigkeit, since in the instance of godhead a accurate synonym would be godliness (and in the instance maidenhead maybe maidenly).
Strictly speaking, if one entertains the distinction involved here, "Godhead", as a noun, serves as a hypernym to "God" and "Goddess"; and "Godheads" as a hypernym to "Gods" and "Goddesses", which neither "godness", "godessness", "godliness" nor "godessliness" do. This makes sense, as "Heit" used to function (and in some very rare German dialects supposedly still does) as a separate noun, unlike "-nis" and "-ness". Does that help make the distinction between the two suffixes clearer?
(Note: You left open the matter of -ig and -y.)
>would be to simply describe a space as manifold rather than a manifold
Correct, you got that right, however, I think that talking about spaces in this way doesn't so much serve as a substitutive translation but as a consequence of the distinction involved - coming hand in hand, basically.
i don't speak german at all (outside of what i've been exposed to in the sciences (ansatz, eigen, etc.) so the nuanced distinction is not clear to me (albeit i can take it on faith visavis your translation to english) but i'll say that i appreciate your bit about rings and varieties (names of objects whose relationship to the objects i've always been curious about - in the case of algebraic ring i always assumed it had something to do with closure). thank you.
Strictly speaking, if one entertains the distinction involved here, "Godhead", as a noun, serves as a hypernym to "God" and "Goddess"; and "Godheads" as a hypernym to "Gods" and "Goddesses", which neither "godness", "godessness", "godliness" nor "godessliness" do. This makes sense, as "Heit" used to function (and in some very rare German dialects supposedly still does) as a separate noun, unlike "-nis" and "-ness". Does that help make the distinction between the two suffixes clearer?
(Note: You left open the matter of -ig and -y.)
>would be to simply describe a space as manifold rather than a manifold
Correct, you got that right, however, I think that talking about spaces in this way doesn't so much serve as a substitutive translation but as a consequence of the distinction involved - coming hand in hand, basically.