{"id":693,"date":"2016-07-29T20:36:27","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T00:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/?post_type=chapter&p=693"},"modified":"2016-12-14T19:50:37","modified_gmt":"2016-12-15T00:50:37","slug":"%c2%a752-what-is-a-diminutive","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/chapter\/%c2%a752-what-is-a-diminutive\/","title":{"raw":"\u00a752. What is a Diminutive?","rendered":"\u00a752. What is a Diminutive?"},"content":{"raw":"

Standard dictionaries will tell you simply that a DIMINUTIVE is a word denoting something small or little\u2014true enough, as far as it goes. Most languages in the Indo-European family have suffixes that \u201cdiminish\u201d a word so as to create a smaller or younger version of that word. In English, a little book is a booklet<\/i>, a tiny duck is a duckling<\/i>, and a small dog is a doggy <\/i>or doggie.<\/i>[footnote] The -y<\/em> spelling is English in origin, whereas the -ie<\/em> is Scottish. The Scots dialect is particularly rich in words of this type; laddie<\/em> and lassie<\/em> are the most conspicuous and familiar examples.[\/footnote] These native English suffixes seem particularly well suited to the farmyard, where we may find a piglet<\/i>, a lambkin<\/i>, or a gosling<\/i>. Quite frequently such expressions become terms of endearment, without referring in any way to physical size: your poochie<\/i> or your honeybunny <\/i>could be a hulking lover of six-foot-five. An apparently sane man or woman may snuggle up to an enormous old hound, cooing fatuously, \u201cIzzums an<\/i> ittums-bittums doggie-woggie?\u201d<\/i> Curiously enough, diminutives can also express disparagement, conveying more than a hint of a sneer. The King of Tonga, Taufa\u2019ahau Tupou IV, is a man of gargantuan proportions, who tips the scales at almost a quarter ton; still, for all his bulk, one might describe him as a princeling<\/i>. (That would be bad manners, but good usage.) Clearly, then, diminutives can denote more than smallness, though smallness is certainly one aspect of their message.<\/p>\r\n

The term DIMINUTIVE originated with the ancient Roman grammarians, who called a \u201cdiminishing\u201d word of this sort a deminutivum<\/b>. Greek scholars of an earlier period had used a rather different term, a word that comes into English as HYPOCORISTIC. This exotic label was derived from a Greek verb that meant \u201cto address as a child,\u201d or \u201cto call a lover by a pet-name.\u201d Therefore baby-talk and childish or amatory nicknames can be properly (if pedantically) described as HYPOCORISTIC. Nicknames that use a standard suffix\u2014Tommy<\/i> or Willie<\/i> or Johnny<\/i>\u2014are also true diminutives. The Greek term helps to remind us that many diminutives are more appropriate to the nursery or the bedroom than to the barnyard. In discussing Latin examples, L. R. Palmer states the case with precision and economy:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\r\n

Such formations do not, of course, merely denote smallness . . . , but, with the added connotations \u2018dear little\u2019, \u2018poor little\u2019 and the like, express a whole range of emotional attitudes\u2014endearment, playfulness, jocularity, familiarity, and contempt.[footnote] The Latin Language<\/em> (London: Faber and Faber, 1961), p. 77.[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Unfortunately, the English language is not richly supplied with native Germanic diminutives, though modern German has a good repertoire of such words. The Scots dialect fares much better than Standard English, as almost any poem of Robert Burns will reveal. Of all modern European languages, Italian is the most expressive in this regard, for it is able to create double and even triple diminutives by employing a whole variety of suffixes. Probably the Italians inherited this gift from the ancient Romans, whose Latin language was extraordinarily fertile in its capacity to diminish words. Many Latin diminutives have left their mark on English, though we may no longer recognize them all as \u201clittle\u201d words. In this short chapter<\/i> (< OF chapitre<\/i> < L capitulum<\/b>, \u201clittle head\u201d), we\u2019ll see the basic system by which Latin created diminutive forms, and we\u2019ll acquire some ability to recognize their English derivatives. We won\u2019t explore the subject exhaustively, since the aim for this topic is more general awareness than full linguistic control.<\/p>","rendered":"

Standard dictionaries will tell you simply that a DIMINUTIVE is a word denoting something small or little\u2014true enough, as far as it goes. Most languages in the Indo-European family have suffixes that \u201cdiminish\u201d a word so as to create a smaller or younger version of that word. In English, a little book is a booklet<\/i>, a tiny duck is a duckling<\/i>, and a small dog is a doggy <\/i>or doggie.<\/i>[1]<\/sup><\/a> These native English suffixes seem particularly well suited to the farmyard, where we may find a piglet<\/i>, a lambkin<\/i>, or a gosling<\/i>. Quite frequently such expressions become terms of endearment, without referring in any way to physical size: your poochie<\/i> or your honeybunny <\/i>could be a hulking lover of six-foot-five. An apparently sane man or woman may snuggle up to an enormous old hound, cooing fatuously, \u201cIzzums an<\/i> ittums-bittums doggie-woggie?\u201d<\/i> Curiously enough, diminutives can also express disparagement, conveying more than a hint of a sneer. The King of Tonga, Taufa\u2019ahau Tupou IV, is a man of gargantuan proportions, who tips the scales at almost a quarter ton; still, for all his bulk, one might describe him as a princeling<\/i>. (That would be bad manners, but good usage.) Clearly, then, diminutives can denote more than smallness, though smallness is certainly one aspect of their message.<\/p>\n

The term DIMINUTIVE originated with the ancient Roman grammarians, who called a \u201cdiminishing\u201d word of this sort a deminutivum<\/b>. Greek scholars of an earlier period had used a rather different term, a word that comes into English as HYPOCORISTIC. This exotic label was derived from a Greek verb that meant \u201cto address as a child,\u201d or \u201cto call a lover by a pet-name.\u201d Therefore baby-talk and childish or amatory nicknames can be properly (if pedantically) described as HYPOCORISTIC. Nicknames that use a standard suffix\u2014Tommy<\/i> or Willie<\/i> or Johnny<\/i>\u2014are also true diminutives. The Greek term helps to remind us that many diminutives are more appropriate to the nursery or the bedroom than to the barnyard. In discussing Latin examples, L. R. Palmer states the case with precision and economy:<\/p>\n

\n

Such formations do not, of course, merely denote smallness . . . , but, with the added connotations \u2018dear little\u2019, \u2018poor little\u2019 and the like, express a whole range of emotional attitudes\u2014endearment, playfulness, jocularity, familiarity, and contempt.[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Unfortunately, the English language is not richly supplied with native Germanic diminutives, though modern German has a good repertoire of such words. The Scots dialect fares much better than Standard English, as almost any poem of Robert Burns will reveal. Of all modern European languages, Italian is the most expressive in this regard, for it is able to create double and even triple diminutives by employing a whole variety of suffixes. Probably the Italians inherited this gift from the ancient Romans, whose Latin language was extraordinarily fertile in its capacity to diminish words. Many Latin diminutives have left their mark on English, though we may no longer recognize them all as \u201clittle\u201d words. In this short chapter<\/i> (< OF chapitre<\/i> < L capitulum<\/b>, \u201clittle head\u201d), we\u2019ll see the basic system by which Latin created diminutive forms, and we\u2019ll acquire some ability to recognize their English derivatives. We won\u2019t explore the subject exhaustively, since the aim for this topic is more general awareness than full linguistic control.<\/p>\n

  1. The -y<\/em> spelling is English in origin, whereas the -ie<\/em> is Scottish. The Scots dialect is particularly rich in words of this type; laddie<\/em> and lassie<\/em> are the most conspicuous and familiar examples. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. The Latin Language<\/em> (London: Faber and Faber, 1961), p. 77. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":20,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"Chapter 7: Latin Diminutives","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-693","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":583,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2041,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/693\/revisions\/2041"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/583"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/693\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=693"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=693"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}