The suffix -ize added to a word turns it into

A transition word

Explanation:

a verb-forming suffix occurring originally in loanwords from Greek that have entered English through Latin or French (baptize; barbarize; catechize); within English, -ize is added to adjectives and nouns to form transitive verbs with the general senses “to render, make” (actualize; fossilize; sterilize; Americanize), “to convert into, give a specified character or form to” (computerize; dramatize; itemize; motorize), “to subject to (as a process, sometimes named after its originator)” (hospitalize; terrorize; galvanize; oxidize; simonize; winterize). Also formed with -ize are a more heterogeneous group of verbs, usually intransitive, denoting a change of state (crystallize), kinds or instances of behavior (apologize; moralize; tyrannize), or activities (economize; philosophize; theorize).

The answers you are looking for are a verb, a noun, an adjective, and an adverb. It is definitely a verb

Explanation:

I got it right on SOS

it is believed to be alfred, lord himself

the words “strangest” and “unusual” suggest that the narrator is about to tell the story of an odd or puzzling group of people.