Diminutive

A diminutive is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object named, intimacy, or endearment. In some languages diminutives are formed in a regular way by adding affixes to nouns and proper names, in English the alteration of meaning is often but not essentially conveyed through smaller size. English diminutives tend to be shorter and more colloquial than the basic form of the word, diminutives formed by adding affixes in other languages are often longer and not necessarily colloquial. Diminutives are often used for affection (see nickname and hypocoristic). In many languages the meaning of diminution can be translated "tiny" or "wee" and diminutives are used a lot when speaking to small children; adult people sometimes use diminutives when they express extreme tenderness and intimacy by behaving and talking like children (for example in sexual situations). See also Apocopation.

Non-English languages with regular use of diminutive suffixes

In many languages formation of diminutives by suffixes is a regular part of grammar. All nouns, not just proper nouns can be diminuted. The world "diminutive" is used in a narrower and less vague sense here than when referring to English. The basic meaning of diminution in these languages is "smallness of the object named"; endearment, intimacy etc. is secondary and dependent on context. For example, the name of the last Roman emperor of the western part of the Roman Empire - Romulus Augustus - was diminuted to Romulus Augustulus (little Augustus) to emphasize the contrast between the grandness of the name and political insignificance of its bearer, in this case the connotation of diminution is derogatory, no endearment here.

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German

German, for example, features words such as "Häuschen" (or "Häuserl" in Austrian German) for "small house", "Würstchen" for "small sausage" and "Hündchen" for "small dog". The use of diminutives is quite different between the languages and dialects. The Alemannic dialects for example use the diminutive very often.

Related Topics:
German - Austrian German

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There are two suffices in German:

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• -chen, e.g. Männchen for little man (corresponding with English -kin, Low Saxon and Dutch -je and -tje and flamish and Low Saxon -ken)
• -lein e.g. Männlein for little man (corresponding with English -let, alemannic -le, -li, Bavarian and Austrian -l and Latin -culus / -cula)

Suffixation of the diminutive suffixes ?chen and ?lein to a finally stressed word stem causes umlaut of the stressed vowel.

Related Topics:
Word stem - Umlaut

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Low Saxon and Dutch

The East Frisian Dialect of the Low Saxon uses quite frequently the diminutive -je, and -tje. In Dutch, -je, -tje, and -pje are used as a diminutive suffix (e.g. huis becomes huisje (little house); boom becomes boompje (little tree)). Some words have a slightly different suffix, even though the diminutive always ends with -je. For example, man becomes mannetje (little man).

Related Topics:
Low Saxon - Dutch

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In the southern parts of the Low Saxon area and in Flemish the diminutive -ke, -ken is corresponding (Manneke, manneken for little man). Both forms are corresponding with the English diminuitive -kin, e.g. lambkin, pumpkin and the German diminutive -chen.

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In the northern Low Saxon dialects, the diminutive is rarely used, as in the North Germanic languages.

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Latin

In the Latin language the diminutive is formed also by suffixes.

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• -ulus, -ula, -ulum, e.g. paululus (very small) from paulus (small)
• -culus, -cula, -culum, e.g. homunculus (little man) from homo (man)
• -olus, -ola, -olum, e.g. malleolus (little hammer) from malleus (hammer)
• -ellus, -ella, -ellum, e.g. libellus (little book) from liber (book)

Similarly, the diminutive of gladius (sword) is gladiolus, a plant whose leaves look like small swords.

Related Topics:
Gladius - Sword - Gladiolus - Plant - Leaves

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Italian

In Italian, the diminutive is usually expressed by changing -o to -ino, -a to -ina, or -i to -ini. Examples which have made it into English are the neutrino, and just about every shape of pasta, like linguine (named for its resemblance to little tongues). The root word is "lingua", which is also a cognate of "language" and "bilingual".

Related Topics:
Italian - Neutrino - Pasta - Linguine - Tongue - Root word - Cognate - Language - Bilingual

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Spanish

More detail at Spanish grammar.

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In Spanish, -o and -a become -ito and -ita, respectively — as in "perro" (dog) and "perrito" (puppy). Sometimes, this changes the spelling slightly: a "chica" is a girl, and a "chiquita" is a little girl, for example.

Related Topics:
Spanish - Dog - Puppy

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Portuguese

In Portuguese, -inho and -inha are the most common diminutives, replacing -o and -a, respectively. Diminutives are very, very commnonly used in informal language. Words ending in "e" generally have -zinho added, such as café and cafezinho. A "c" (but not a "ç") becomes a "qu" on some words, like "pouco" (few or a few) and "pouquinho" (very few). Popular diminutives may have different forms: e.g., "poucochinho" (very few, a very small portion). Portuguese is somehow peculiar because the diminutive endings "-inho" and "-inha" are often used not only with nouns but also with adverbs (e.g., só/sozinho, both meaning alone), adjectives (e.g., tonto/tontinho, meaning silly and, perhaps, "a bit silly") and even some other word classes, as, e.g., obrigadinho, which is a diminutive for the interjection obrigado (thanks).

Related Topics:
Portuguese - Café - Adverb - Adjective - Word classes - Interjection

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French

French diminutives usually end in -ette, and this frequently carries over into English as well.

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Czech

In Czech diminutives are formed by suffixes, as in other Slavic languages. Every noun has a grammatically correct diminutive form, regardless of the sense it makes. This is sometimes used for comic effect, for example diminuting the world for "giant" to mean "little giant". Diminutives can be diminuted further by adding another diminutive suffix. E.g.: "Julie" (Julia), "Julka" (little Julia), "Julinka" (very little Julia).

Related Topics:
Czech - Slavic languages

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Russian

Russian has a wide variety of diminutive forms for names, to the point that for non-Russian speakers it is difficult to connect a nickname to the original. Diminutive forms for nouns are usually distinguished with a -ka or -chka/shka suffix. For example, "voda" (вода, "water") becomes "vodka" (водка, "little water") and "kot" (кот, "cat") becomes "koshka" (кошка, "kitten").

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Names can be somewhat more arbitrary, but still follow a loose pattern. A list of common names and their diminutive forms:

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• Aleksey = Alyosha
• Aleksandr(a) = Sasha
• Anastasiya = Nastya
• Dmitriy = Dima
• Ivan = Vanya
• Konstantin = Kostya
• Mariya = Masha
• Mikhail = Misha
• Nataliya = Natasha
• Nikolay = Kolya
• Sergei = Seryozha
• Stepan = Styopa
• Svetlana = Sveta
• Yekaterina = Katya
• Yevgeny = Zhenya

Some names can also be modified with a -ka ending to add a further level of familiarity, but are not normally used for adults who are not family members.

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Turkish

Turkish diminutive suffixes are -cik and -cegiz (-cegiz):

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• ev = evcik (house)
• Mehmet = Mehmetçik