-まする verb ending. Is る a particle?


Has anyone ever come across the form -まする where -ます would be expected? I have
just come across a sentence ending ...と存じまする.

My first thought was that る must be a particle, but I can't find any mention
of it anywhere. Then I thought it could be a suru verb with the noun 存じま, but
I can't find that as a noun in any dictionaries, and anyway in the context a
plain する is very unlikely as it's someone addressing their social superior in
a historical novel. Based on that, another possibility could be that it's a
traditional polite suffix, but I can't find anything that would support that
idea, and googling other verbs with the same ending does produce some results
with e.g. ありまする, 食べまする, so I don't think it's an old-fashioned thing.

So basically, I'm stuck. It seems most likely that る is a particle, but if so
what does it mean and why is it not in any dictionaries? Any ideas?




I apologize for the errors. **[The ending is actually part of an old auxiliary
ます, which is, I may say, its
remnant.](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B-634367)**

As the linked Kotobank page says, まする is an old ending / attributive form of
丁寧語｛ていねいご｝-ます-. Kotobank also says as follows:

> [補説]現代語では、仮定形「ますれ」とともにその使用は限られ、形式ばった堅苦しい表現に用いられるだけである。

Translation:

> ［Additional Information］Today, together with its hypothetical form 「ますれ」,
> 「まする」's use cases are limited. It is only used in formal expressions.

